Ashura rituals attacked by khalifis, Saudis execute activists
Tension is rising in Bahrain as natives reject khalifi attempts to instigate sectarian tensions during the season of Ashoora. For centuries natives had marked the first ten days of Muharram (the first month of the Lunar calendar) to remember the third Shia Muslim Imam Hussain ibn Ali who was martyred in Karabala, Iraq on 20th October 680 AD. He had opposed the transformation of the Islamic political system into a tribal hereditary rule. Hussain, Prophet Mohammad’s grandson was brutally murdered with 72 of his supporters and relatives by the Umayyad ruler, Yazid. Native Bahrainis identify with Hussain as the bearer of the banner of freedom. The past two weeks have witnessed khalifi attempts to ban the religious rituals in various ways. Heads of congregation halls (matams) were summoned and warned of imprisonment and torture if they allowed criticism of the Umayyad killers. Banners and flags to mark the season are being systematically removed. At the town of Jabalat Habshi management of one of Hussaini halls was ordered to remove a banner that describes Yazid as a killer and corrupt ruler. The khalifis have followed in the footsteps of the Umayyad hereditary dictators and thus attempt to distort the facts of history which remind people of their corrupt, dictatorial and repressive hereditary rule.
This week one of the most senior political leaders in Bahrain, Hasan Mushaima told his family that after three weeks at a secluded medical facility, he has not received the necessary medical treatment and has been subjected to punitive measures and stifling psychological pressure. Lack of movement and unsuitable food contributed to the aggravation of his condition. He objected to the unhealthy food that lacks vegetables and nutritional value appropriate to his condition. Health issues include: uncontrolled blood pressure, undetermined damage to kidneys and stomach, heart muscle weakened by high blood pressure, a cyst in his eye that affects vision and refusal by the authorities to allow family access to medical file or treatment plan.
On 5th August regime’s courts ordered the detention of three native Bahrainis for two weeks. Ahmed Al Rayes, Ahmad Al Sabe’ and his brother Jaffar were arrested for taking part in peaceful anti-regime protest. Another poltiical prisoner, Mohammad Abdullah Al Aali is fighting for his life after he fell ill and has been diagnosed with serious ailment. He has recently been infected with Covid-19 for which he has not received adequate treatment or care. This week he was released from jail and handed back to his family to care for him.
More than 100 UK-based academics have signed a petition sent to the Bahrain’s dictator calling the confiscation of Dr Abdul Jalil Al-singace’s research a “cruel and unjust punishment”. Among them are Dr Kasey Mccall-smith, senior lecturer in Public International Law, University of Edinburgh; Catherine Cobham, head of the department of Arabic and Persian at the University of Andrews; and Ahmed M Abozaid of the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, School of International Relations, University of St Andrews. Dr Mccall-smith said: “The persecution and ill-treatment of Dr Al-singace must stop. Only by releasing Dr Al-singace immediately and unconditionally can Bahrain comply with its international obligations.” Among the signatories to the petition are 60 lecturers from the University of Manchester, where Dr Al-singace studied for his PHD. They demanded the prisoner “should not have to place his life on the line to secure his basic rights and the return of his intellectual property”. Dr Al Singace has now completed four weeks on hunger strike and his health is rapidly deteriorating.
The Saudi regime has refused to temporarily release a senior academic and thinker Dr Hassan Al Malki in order to attend the funeral of his son, Farhan who died in a “car crash” on 7th August. Dr Al Malki has been behind bars since September 2017 for expressing religious views different from those propagated by the regime.
Saudi Arabia has executed a young Shia man over participation in anti-regime protest in Qatif. The regime accused him of “insurrection against the country’s establishment and non-compliance with government authorities.” Ahmed bin Saeed bin Ali al-Janabi from the village of Qudeih, to the North of Qatif was beheaded and crucifixed by a swordman who showed no mercy on the young man. Prominent Saudi lawyer and human rights activist Taha al-Haji said al-Janabi’s name had not been included in the list of the people who faced the threat of execution. No death sentence, he added, had been issued against him in the court of first instance, let alone such a sentence being upheld by the kingdom’s appellate and supreme courts. Al-Haji has also said that another citizen, Mohammed al-Shakhouri from al-Awamiyah, another town in the Eastern Province, has had his death sentence upheld by the country’s judicial authorities. Shakhouri’s case is passing through its final stages at the supreme court, he added.
In another development the appeal hearing of Abdul Rahman Al Sadhan took place on 5th August. At the hearing he looked exhausted. He denied the allegations against him. His lawyer insisted that there was no credible evidence to support those allegations. The trial was adjourned to 13th September. On 22nd July activist Abdullah al-Mubaraki was arrested by Saudi authorities and has been forcibly disappeared since. His family as well as other human rights activists are calling on the Saudis to reveal his whereabouts and release him immediately
Bahrain Freedom Movement
11th August 2021