MPs expose immoral UK support of khalifi torturers .. Murray boycotts Saudi matches over ‘sportswashing’ concerns
Scholars At Risk (SAR) has called for letters, emails, and faxes respectfully urging the khalifi authorities to ensure Dr. Al-Singace’s well-being while in custody, including proper access to medical care and visits with his family, that any charges or convictions related to Dr. Al-Singace’s peaceful exercise of protected human rights are lifted, and that in the interim, his case is addressed in a manner consistent with internationally recognized standards of due process, fair trial, and detention, in accordance with Bahrain’s obligations under international law. On his 60th Birthday on (15th January) greetings and good wishes were sent to Dr Al Singace who has completed six months of hunger strike. Mary Lawlor UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders tweeted: “Happy Birthday to Abduljalil Al-Singace, who celebrates his 60th from prison. Yesterday, a communication I wrote to Bahrain about his poor health became public. Sadly, there’s been no response yet & I’ve heard his health has further deteriorated.”
For the fourth time, five under-aged children from Sitra Town have had their detention extended for one more week. Mohammad Jaffar Al Kuwaiti, 15, his brothers, Muqtada, 15 and Muntadar, 14, Ahmed Fadel Ahmed Hubail, 15 and Mohammad Abdul Zahra Mansoor, 15 have been in detention since early December. They are held incommunicado with no contacts with or visits from their families.
An investigation by the human rights group Front Line Defenders (FLD) has found that the mobile phones of Ebtisam al-Saegh, a Bahraini human rights defender, and Hala Ahed Deeb, who works with human rights and feminist groups in Jordan, had been hacked using NSO’s Pegasus spyware. Both women said the discoveries, which were confirmed by security researchers at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, felt like life-changing violations of their privacy, underscoring how such attacks against women were “particularly grievous” given how sensitive information could be weaponised against them.
Leading a debate on the relations between UK and Bahrain at the House of Commons on Thursday 13th January, SNP’s Westminster human rights spokesman Brendan O’Hara said when it came to right and wrong, the UK Government’s position on Bahrain shows it has “clearly picked which side they are on”. Mr O’Hara cited the case of a Bahraini professor of engineering, Dr Abduljalil al-Singace, imprisoned for life in 2011, who has suffered torture and sexual abuse at the hands of security forces. Those who criticise the regime in Bahrain are subject to the most cruel and random treatment. Mr O’Hara said the message was “loud and clear from the minister, that everything that they have done for the last 10 years may have failed, but it is business as usual because human rights abuses is a price worth paying to secure a trade deal with just about anybody”. Several MPs talked in some length about the human rights violations of native Bahrainis by the khalifis. They include: Sir Peter Bottomley MP (Worthing West, Conservative), Alistair Carmichael MP (Orkney and Shetland, Liberal Democrat), Jeremy Corbyn MP (Islington North, Independent), Margaret Ferrier MP (Rutherglen and Hamilton West, Independent), Jim Shannon MP (Strangford, Democratic Unionist Party), Patricia Gibson MP (North Ayrshire and Arran, Scottish National Party) and Bambos Charalambous MP (Enfield, Southgate, Labour). The only one who defended the khalifi torturers was Bob Stewart MP (Beckenham, Conservative) who accused native Bahraini political prisoners of committing crimes by opposing the hereditary dictatorship and denied that there are political prisoners.
World Tennis champion, Andy Murray turned down huge financial offers to play in Saudi Arabia over ‘sportswashing’ concerns, according to his representative. The Scottish tennis star was offered to play at big-money events in Saudi – with some events paying up to $2 million to top talents. But Murray refused to head to Saudi to compete in lucrative exhibition matches because “of what’s gone on” in the country over human rights issues.
It has been confirmed that the former legal advisor at the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dr. Abdul Rahman bin Yusuf Al-Rahma, has been arrested. In a video clip he had praised Sheikh Suleiman Alwan, who has been in prison since 2004 for visiting families of prisoners and supporting militant groups.
The European Saudi Organisation for Human Rights (ESOHR) is campaigning to secure the release of an elderly Saudi woman unjustly jailed for several years. Aida Alghamdi has been imprisoned for four years, tortured in front of her younger son, Adel and forced to witness his torture in order to pressure her older son, Abdulla, to stop his activism. Her other son, Sultan was released shortly after her arrest on the condition that he attacked his jailed brother for his political activism. The mother who is in her sixties remain behind bars.
Bahrain Freedom Movement
19th January 2022