Suffering of Bahraini prisoners deepens, Saudis hold secret trials for activists
On 3rd February, Dr Abduljalil AlSingace’s health deteriorated suddenly, forcing the on-duty doctor and an ambulance crew to intervene to treat him. He was given an oxygen mask. His health is in a fragile state as a result of 213 days of his ongoing hunger strike. Yesterday English PEN, which supports writers in jail, tweeted: Seven months ago, Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace began a hunger strike to protest prison conditions and the confiscation of his manuscript. We’re deeply concerned by reports that his health has significantly deteriorated in the past week.
As the 11th anniversary of the Bahrain Revolution approaches the regime is taking preemptive steps to prevent massive participation in the expected protests. Yesterday khalifi torturers summoned Munir Mushaima, brother of martyr Sami who was executed in January 2017 with two other natives.
Jailed native Bahraini religious leader Sheikh Mirza Al-Mahroos has started a hunger strike to protest ill-treatment and lack of medical care. He has been suffering Colon disease in but has not been properly examined or treated.
Fears are growing for the life of political prisoner, Ibrahim Yousuf Al Samahiji after he was removed from his cell a few days ago. He had exhibited symptoms similar to those of Covid-19. While he was calling his family the call was abruptly ended. His cell mates said he had been moved to the isolation building. He is serving a life sentence for opposing the khalifi dictators. Another political prisoner, Salman Abbas Al Ismail, 25, from Nuwaidrat has caught Covid-19 for the second time. He has been in detention since 20th December 2017.
On Monday 7th February, 11 human rights groups said an Emirati airline RoyalJet A6-RJC plane belonging to a private airline based in Abu Dhabi had flown Ali Jaffar from the Serbian capital Belgrade to Bahraini capital Manama where he was handed over to the Bahraini authorities. “We fear that by using your company’s aircrafts to carry out Mr Ali’s wrongful extradition, you may have played an active role in violating the ECHR’s interim measures and article 3 of the UN Convention against Torture, which enshrines the principle of non-refoulement,” the groups said in the letter published on the website of Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB). “You have also violated the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, under which business enterprises’ responsibility to respect human rights requires that they seek ‘to prevent or mitigate adverse human rights impacts that are directly linked to their operations, products or services by their business relationships, even if they have not contributed to those impacts’.
Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassem, has slammed the war by Saudi Arabia on the order of the United States describing it as “a dirty war in view of religion and conscience.” He said: “The full scale war against Yemeni nation was launched at the will of the US administration and carried out by a neighboring Muslim country.” he added.” Ayatollah Qassem made the comments in a message issued amid the worst Saudi-led attacks on Yemen.
On Monday 7th February the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) and Human Rights Watch said that Bahrain authorities are detaining six boys, ages 14 and 15, in a child welfare facility,. The authorities have not provided the boys or their families with any written justification for their weeks-long detention and have denied parents’ requests to be present during their interrogations and to visit their sons. The boys, from the Sitra area, are being held on the orders of the public prosecutor’s office at the Beit Batelco facility in Seef district, which a government website describes as an “institution … for children of unknown parentage, orphans and children of broken families up to the age of 15.” The children’s alleged offenses appear to have occurred in December 2020 or January 2021, when they were 13 and 14, based on the boys’ recollections of their interrogations. A statement by the Office of the Public Prosecution alleges they threw Molotov cocktails that damaged a car near a police station. The confessions were obtained under extreme forms of torture.
Saudi officials are said to hold secret trials for political prisoners and deprive them of meeting with attorneys and family members in order to hide the violations committed against the dissidents in jail. Sanad human rights organization which defends political and civil rights in Saudi Arabia said many of the political prisoners stand secret trials and receive arbitrary and unfair sentences based on confessions extracted under torture. The organization highlighted that Saudi authorities grossly mistreat imprisoned dissidents in flagrant violation of international principles, which demand justice and transparency in the criminal procedure. It said Saudi authorities must remedy their unfair policy toward the country’s prisoners of conscience, and respect human rights. Saudi Arabia has stepped up politically-motivated arrests, prosecution and conviction of peaceful dissident writers and human rights campaigners.
On 3 February, the Court of Appeal upheld a two-year prison sentence issued on 3 December 2021 against Abdulrahman al-Dowaish, son of the missing preacher Sulaiman al-Dowaish. Abdulrahman has been detained since 18 October 2021 for asking where his father was.
Bahrain Freedom Movement
9th February 2022
