Saudis to execute two Bahrainis; 3 years after butchering Khashoggi
On 7th October the Saudi regime decided to behead two native Bahrainis. Jaffar Mohammed Sultan and Sadeq Majeed Thamer have been condemned to beheading and crucifixion for crimes they had not committed. They had been detained at the Bahrain-Saudi causeway on 9th May 2015. Nothing has been heard of them since. They were held at Al Mabaheth prison and were subjected to severe torture to force them to sign false confessions that they were trying to smuggle weapons. The court announced its verdict after a short “trial” on the basis of confessions extracted under torture. They could be executed any time now.
On Friday 8th October, the regime’s torture officials at Al Hoora and Al Qudaibiya police stations, detained ten native Bahrainis for one week pending investigation. Some of them had participated in a protest that day against the newly forged alliance between the khalifis and Israeli occupiers. Peaceful protest is banned by the khalifis who often equate it with “terrorism”. The detainees include Hajji Ali Hammam and Hajji Abdul Nabi Al Hawaj. Fifteen citizens from Sitra Island were also summoned after their participation in similar demonstrations as part of the series “Voices Opposing Normalization with the Zionist Enemy”
Torturers at Dry Dock prison have exacted revenge on underaged political prisoners. The boys denied on social media statements extracted from them under torture and broadcast by regime’s media. The revenge took several forms including torture, ill-treatment and denial of medical care. Another Bahraini detainee had to be hospitalized after fainting due to an extended period of medical negligence. Younis Al-Fatlawi, who is serving an arbitrary 10-year-prison sentence, is reportedly suffering from unspecified stomach and kidney complications.
On 5th October English PEN called for the release of Dr Abul Jalil Al Singace. It tweeted: “Today marks 90 days since imprisoned academic, activist and blogger Dr Al-Singace launched his hunger strike in Bahrain. We have joined lawmakers, NGOs and academics in urging the UK to demand his release”. The health of Sheikh Mirza Al Mahroos, one of the senior figures behind bars since 211 has deteriorated in the past few days after three weeks on hunger strike. He was protesting ill-treatment, lack of medical care for his colon disease and denial of meeting his son who is jailed in a cell near to his.
The human rights world has been shaken to the core by the decision taken by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Office to end the investigation into Saudi war crimes in Yemen. Saudi Arabia has lobbied heavily against a Western resolution that would extend the mandate of U.N. investigators who have documented possible war crimes in Yemen, including by the Riyadh-led coalition, activists said on 6th October. The motion, brought by countries including the Netherlands and Canada, was debated on Thursday in a session of the U.N. Human Rights Council. The Group of Eminent Experts, set up by the council in 2017, has found repeatedly that coalition air strikes and shelling during the seven-year conflict may amount to war crimes. Kamel Jendoubi, head of the Group of Independent Experts, said: “Since March 2015, Jendoubi said, it is estimated that over 23,000 air strikes had been carried out by the coalition and that over 18,000 civilians had been killed or wounded.
Musa al-Qarni, a Saudi cleric and prominent member of the ‘Jeddah reformers’ group, has reportedly died in prison. Rights group ALQST is calling for an investigation, alleging that al-Qarni was tortured and given ‘unsuitable medication’ by the authorities. A native political detainee is fighting for his life at the notorious Jau prison after attracting Covid-19 in his cell. Last week Ali Ma’tooq was first diagnosed with skin disease. Then they contacted his family and told them about his Covid-19 infection. He remains in isolation without proper medical treatment.
A state of anger is rising among human rights bodies and activists at the UK’s decision to back the nomination of a UAE official for the presidency of Interpol and defend Bahrain torturers. Leaked documents have revealed details of a proposed covert campaign to make the UAE’s Major General Ahmed Naser Al Raisi the new head of Interpol. Daniela Tejada, wife of Matthew Hedges, a British victim of torture at UAE prison tweeted: “My blood boils when I recall Alistair Burt, then Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa, looking at me in the eyes and saying he had Matt’s best interests, after months of torture and abuse by the same man he’s now helping to lead Interpol”. On 8th October Dominic Dudley tweeted: “Civil societies across the GCC remain among the most repressed in the world” and highlight cases of Abduljalil Al-Singace and Hassan Mushaima – in jail for over a decade for calling for democracy in Bahrain – and UAE human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor.”
On 6th October, a court in Saudi Arabia upheld a 20-year prison term imposed on a Saudi aid worker who had criticized the government on Twitter, drawing a rare public rebuke from the U.S. in another sign of tension between the Biden administration and the kingdom. The ruling also upheld a 20-year travel ban on Abdulrahman al-Sadhan after his release. His case is the latest example of the continued crackdown against those who criticize the Saudi government and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. It also shows the lengths to which the authorities have gone to silence them.
Bahrain Freedom Movement
13th October 2021
