Bahrain: Teen Protester Shot Dead

This post is part of our special coverage of Bahrain Protests 2011.

Protests erupted in Bahrain this weekend as angry mourners buried 16-year-old Ahmed Al-Qattan, who was killed by a bird shot according to the Ministry of Interior Affairs, which rarely states the truth about the causes of protestor deaths:

@moi_bahrain: The report of medical examiner of the Public Prosecution attributed the death of Ahmed Jaber to injury of a birdshot.

@moi_bahrain: The Ministry of Interior launches immediate investigation of the death of Ahmed Jaber.

In contrast, the Bahrain News Agency, which fabricated numerous stories during the February 2011 uprising, stated a different cause of death for the killed teenager:

@bna_en: Interior Ministry: Ahmed Al Jaber Died due to Heart Failure http://tinyurl.com/3cxrub4

British blogger Marc Owen Jones (@marcowenjones) tweeted a note on Bahraini media's take on Al-Qattan's death:

@marcowenjones: None of Bahrain's English language newspapers have mentioned the death of Ahmed Jaber al-Qattan. Steve Jobs got a double page spread though.

General Secretary of Al-Wefaq opposition group Ali Salman (@WefaqGS) [ar] mourned the death of Al-Qattan saying:

شعب البحرين يزف أحمد القطان شهيدا اخر على طريق الحرية والديموقراطية اللهم تقبل منا هذا القربا

@WefaqGS: The people of Bahrain present Ahmed Al-Qattan, another martyr in the path of freedom and democracy. We pray to the Almighty to accept this sacrifice.

One of Bahrain's most active Twitter users Mohammed Ashour (@MohmdAshoor) tweeted commenting:

@MohmdAshoor: Ahmed Shams 15 y/o .. Moh'd Farhan 6 y/o .. Ali AlShaikh 14 y/o .. Ahmed Al Qattan 16 y/o .. Child martyrs of Bahrain.

Rula Al-Saffar (@alsaffarrula), head of nursing in Salmaniya Medical Complex who was recently sentenced to 15 years in jail for treating protesters, tweeted about the teen martyr saying:

@alsaffarrula: If our public hospital was safe & had his original medics! Ahmed would have been saved! My heart is bleeding!

Bahraini Twitter user (@BuMuhsin) tweeted a copy of Ahmed's death certificate which states the cause of death is birdshot wounds:

Ahmed Al-Qattan's death certificate

Ahmed Al-Qattan's death certificate

In this video [Warning: Graphic content], protesters who were with Ahmed filmed his last moments. It shows a group of young people gathered around the body checking it for a pulse and signs of life while awaiting medical help in a house. People injured by police in Bahrain are currently afraid to go to hospitals because the police will arrest them there.

Bahraini journalist Abbas Bu Safwan tweeted:

@abbasbusafwan: EVERY ONE MUST KNOW THAT WOUNDED PROTESTERS IN #BAHRAIN CANT GET TREATMENTS IN HOSPITALS FEARING PROSECUTION #UN #USA #EU #UK #ARABSPRING

Of course, the death of Al-Qattan was not going to pass with a simple funeral. Bahrainis from different areas gathered in their thousands for his funeral, which eventually led to clashes with riot police.

@jihankazerooni: Thousands of Bahrainis are participating in the funeral of the Martyr Ahmed Al qattan 16 year old child.

Another Bahraini (@loveforbahrain) posted a video of a riot police car trying to run over those marching to the funeral:

@loveforbahrain: Police trying to run over the marchers in Martyrs Ahmad Alqattan funeral.

Here is also one of the videos from Al-Qattan's funeral which turned into a demonstration with chants against the regime:

Several injuries were reported throughout the evening.

This post is part of our special coverage of Bahrain Protests 2011.

4 comments

Join the conversation

Authors, please log in »

Guidelines

  • All comments are reviewed by a moderator. Do not submit your comment more than once or it may be identified as spam.
  • Please treat others with respect. Comments containing hate speech, obscenity, and personal attacks will not be approved.

Receive great stories from around the world directly in your inbox.

Sign up to receive the best of Global Voices!

Submitted addresses will be confirmed by email, and used only to keep you up to date about Global Voices and our mission. See our Privacy Policy for details.

Newsletter powered by Mailchimp (Privacy Policy and Terms).

* = required field
Email Frequency



No thanks, show me the site