Khalifis plot to liquidate leaders, NGOs act to save Saudi youth
Serious fears are growing for the lives of the senior members of the opposition who are languishing behind bars at khalifi torture centres. Several NGOs who are following their cases since their arrest more than ten years ago have privately said that they fear the worst. They said that the regime harbours bad intentions and could liquidate several of them if they refused to accept signing away their rights in accordance with the requirements of the “alternative sentencing” policy being imposed by the khalifis. According to this policy, political prisoners will be released if they sign documents to: remains silent after their release, stop involvement in politics, give away their right to bring their torturers to justice, stop attending public functions or any meeting with more than few people or criticize the khalifi hereditary dictatorship in any way. Mr Abdul Wahab Hussain, Hassan Mushaima, Sheikh Ali Salman, Dr Abdul Jalil Al Singace and Sheikh Ali Ashoor are at the top of the list for liquidation because of their insistence on political change in the country and their rejection of the alternative sentencing.
Attacks on native Bahrainis has continued unabated despite the regime’s attempts to deceive the outside world about its repressive policies. At least six people were detained in raids on their homes at Samaheej Town in the early hours of yesterday. Among the detainees were: Mustafa Hussain, Jassim Al Akla, Yousuf Al Juffairi, Mohammad Mahmood, Hassan Ali Ahmad and Ali Abdul Muhsin. Salman Ali Salman was also arrested. Two men from Boori Town were also detained: Mahmood Sabir who was released on 18th March and Ahmad Abu Taki was also detained in a dawn raid on his home in the town. He is a relative of Martyr Mahmood Abu Taki who was murdered by the khalifis in the early days of the revolution in 2011.
The natives have continued their daily protests to demand the immediate and unconditional release of the political prisoners. In Sanabis, Shakhoura, Abu Saiba, Demstan and other towns men and women lined the main roads raising banners with pictures of their loved ones. Ayatullah Sheikh Isa Ahmad Qassim has repeated his calls for the release of the Bahraini political prisoners affirming this as an unalienable right.
Regime’s kangaroo courts have sentenced several people to varying sentences of up to life. Abdulla Al Anjawi was given ten years and a fine of £100,000 Bahrain Dinars (over $250,000) for opposing the hereditary dictatorship. Political prisoner, Ahmad Mirza has been denied contact with his family for few weeks. because he refused the alternative sentencing imposed by the khalifis on native Bahraini political prisoners. Nothing has been heard of him in recent weeks.
A Saudi court has imposed 9-year prison sentence against Dr. Amer Al-Almai, and a fine of 500,000 riyals. Human rights bodies have confirmed the detention of Dr Samir Halwani from Jedda in May. No news have been heard of him since his arrest.
On Monday 13th September the trial of Abdul Rahman al-Sadhan resumed to hear his defence. He has been in detention since March 2018 when he was arrested at the Red Crescent offices in Riyadh. His family has sought his release but no new date has been set for the next court hearing.
Dr Abdulla Al Awdah said that his father, Sheikh Salman has suffered serious damage to one of his ears due to lack of medical care. He is one of many who were detained in September 2017 for calling for political reforms. They include Awad Al Qarni, Ali Al Amri, Abdulla Al Maliki, Issam Al Zamil, Jamil Al Farsi, Adel BaNa’mah, Ali BaDahdah and Mohammad Moosa Al Sharif. On the 4th anniversary of their arrest calls have made for their freedom from many quarters which consider them “prisoners of conscience”.
Three former U.S. intelligence and military officials have admitted providing sophisticated computer hacking technology to the United Arab Emirates and agreed to pay nearly $1.7 million to resolve criminal charges in an agreement that the Justice Department described as the first of its kind. The defendants — Marc Baier, Ryan Adams and Daniel Gericke — are accused of working as senior managers at a UAE-based company that conducted hacking operations on behalf of the government. Prosecutors say the men provided hacking and intelligence-gathering systems that were used to break into computers in the United States and elsewhere in the world. According to court documents, the trio left a U.S.-based company that was operating in the UAE to join an Emerati company that would give them “significant increases” in their salaries.
Abdullah al Howaiti is facing execution in Saudi Arabia for ‘crimes’ he couldn’t have committed. He was locked up in a secret location for months and beaten into a ‘confession’ when he was just 14 years old. But Saudi Arabia’s leaders really care about their public image. And all the executions are starting to hurt their global reputation. Reprieve said if collective work is undertakne, Saudi Arabian authorities will realise that executing him will destroy the image they are trying to project to the rest of the world. And his life could be spared.
Bahrain Freedom Movement
15th September 2021
