“This is a long-awaited follow-up to a preliminary mission that took place last December,” Rupert Colville, spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), told reporters in Geneva.

As agreed with the Government, the four-member team that will travel to Bahrain from 2 to 6 December will also discuss the measures undertaken by the authorities to implement the recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, and those agreed at the recent Universal Periodic Review of Bahrain by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The Commission of Inquiry was established by the King of Bahrain in June 2011 to investigate incidents that occurred during unrest in the country last year.

The human rights team is scheduled to hold discussions with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice, Interior, Human Rights, Health, Labour, and Education, as well as with the National Human Rights Institution and civil society organizations.

Colville added that High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay regrets the decision taken by Bahraini authorities on 7 November to revoke the nationality of 31 citizens for ‘having undermined state security,’ which may leave around 16 of them stateless.

“She urges the Government to reconsider this decision, which stands in clear violation of article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that, ‘everyone has the right to a nationality’ and ‘no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality.’”

States are expected to observe minimum procedural standards to ensure that decisions concerning the deprivation of nationality do not contain any element of arbitrariness, added Colville.

Pillay is also “deeply concerned” about the restrictions on public demonstrations and other public gatherings declared by the Bahraini authorities on 30 October. “Bahrain should fully comply with its international human rights commitments, including respect for freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and association,” said Colville.

“She is also concerned by the sentencing of 23 medical professionals on 21 November, and reiterates her call on the authorities to release all individuals who have been detained or sentenced simply for exercising their right to demonstrate peacefully.”

By Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty International’s Libya researcher (http://www.amnesty.org. Article written for cnn.com).

Two years ago, when Asma Sariba wrote articles for Libyan opposition websites based abroad, she put herself and her family at great risk.

Back then, she did not shy away from using her real name, even posting her picture. Today, she is one of the 33 women serving on the 200-member General National Congress after Libya’s historic national elections on July 7, which followed four decades of repression under Moammar -Gadhafi.

Asma Sariba realizes that a great deal of responsibility lies on the shoulders of the Congress, which inherited a country struggling to break the legacy of systematic human rights violations and a population severely damaged by eight months of armed conflict.

Among her top priorities are the establishment of the rule of law and the disarmament of the hundreds of armed militias that have plagued Libya since the “declaration of liberation” on October 23 last year. Across the country these have continued to act above the law, abducting and detaining victims in secret detention facilities, torturing them – sometimes to death – and terrorizing the general population.

On September 2, two armed groups clashed in the city of al-Zawiya, 50 kilometers west of Tripoli, leading to nine deaths, including bystanders and others not involved in the fighting. Two women were also injured during confrontations.

Asma Sariba is well aware of the violations committed by armed militias. On March 26, an al-Zawiya militia arrested her brother Mohamed Sariba, a university professor, without a warrant and held him incommunicado at their base for nearly two weeks.

One of his lawyers claimed that he was beaten and insulted while there. He is now facing trial on charges of “offending the Libyan people” – an accusation leveled against him by one of his former female students who alleged that he insulted her when she criticized Gadhafi’s government back in April 2011. His trial before the al-Zawiya Criminal Court was adjourned as soon as it began on September 3.

Unlike thousands of other detainees accused of supporting or fighting for the former government, Mohamed Sariba faces formal charges.

But the new Libya’s nascent judicial system has yet to function properly.

The general prosecutor in al-Zawiya admitted to Amnesty International that prosecutors and judges are working in a difficult and tense environment in light of the armed militias’ de facto authority in many areas.

He gave an illustrative example from early summer. A group of thuwwar, as anti-Gaddafi fighters are commonly known, got angry at what they considered to be a light sentence imposed on an alleged Gadhafi supporter. They barged into the courtroom and insulted and threatened one of the judges.

In a separate incident in late June, a group of armed men abducted a public prosecutor in al-Zawiya. They held him for several hours before dragging him into the prosecution’s office demanding he be punished for ordering the release of a detainee they accused of committing crimes. They only left when other members of the prosecution promised to conduct an investigation.

Needless to say, such interference in the judicial process and the general climate of intimidation are not conducive to fair trials. The lack of control that enables armed men to enter courtrooms and attend trials is a testament to the climate of fear, and the risks judges face when ruling against public sentiment.

Few lawyers are willing to defend alleged Gadhafi loyalists – some for ideological reasons; others simply out of fear of reprisals. A member of al-Zawiya’s lawyers’ association told Amnesty International that one of his colleagues was approached by armed men who offered him money or other work opportunities in return for dropping his defense of an alleged Gadhafi loyalist.

Asma Sariba told Amnesty International that while the General National Congress discussed the situation of Libyan prisons, she condemned arbitrary arrests and detention and raised fair trial concerns. Some of her colleagues supported her, but later that evening, insulting articles and comments appeared online – accusing her and her detained brother as being Gadhafi loyalists and criminals.

The stigma of being labeled a Gadhafi supporter, compounded with fears of reprisals, prevents many Libyans – including victims – from publicly condemning ongoing human rights abuses. Even those who spoke out and lodged complaints with the prosecution have yet to see justice.

Members of a criminal investigation committee in al-Zawiya acknowledged to Amnesty International that while they opened investigations into deaths under torture at the hands of armed militias and called in some witnesses and suspects for questioning, they were helpless to make any arrests or bring formal charges.

They vowed to keep cases open and bring to justice all those responsible for deaths as a result of torture as soon as “the security situation allows.” Fair trials were also promised when security improves.

But, in the meantime, victims are left waiting for justice and thousands of detainees – like Mohamed Sariba – have a feeble chance of receiving a genuinely fair trial.