Bahrain Freedom Movement Statements

AlSingace’s case haunts Bahrain regime , Saudis urged to end travel ban

Officials of the regime’s security apparatus have summoned scores of native Bahrainis from Sitra and other areas for interrogation about their participation in pro-Palestine protests towards the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Many have raised slogans against the regime’s policy of normalization with the occupiers of Palestine. Among those summoned were Majid Abdul Mohsin Abdulla (known locally as Hajji Sumood) and Ali Muhanna. Both have been summoned more than 10 times in the past six months.

The political detainees at the notorious Jau prison are being locked up inside their cells for twenty two and a half hours every day. They are allowed outside their cells for only one and a half hours. This is a punishment for not totally conforming to the draconian rules imposed by the regime’s torturers. In the present extremely hot climate (temperatures reach over 45 degrees) this is an additional punishment against native Bahrainis who remain steadfast and defiant.

A native Bahraini political prisoner was re-arrested three days after he had been released. Sadiq Jaffar Al Asfoor from Sitra town had completed his five-year prison sentence that started when he was under-aged and was released on 2nd May. Three days later he went back to the torture building to complete the release procedure but he was re-arrested. He was told that he had to spend more years behind bar in a case related to his peaceful protests that goes back to 2014. The family of political prisoner, Ali Ma’tooq are asking the prison officials to provide their detained son with proper medical treatment. The young activist is suffering numerous ailments linked to the brain and the nervous system.

Jeremy Corbyn, MP has tweeted the following: “The UK Foreign Office funds training to @MoI_(Ministry of the Interior of) Bahrain who continue to unlawfully imprison leading Bahraini academic Dr AlSingace. AlSingace has spent over 300 days on hunger strike demanding the return of his confiscated research.”

Baroness Natalie Bennett is also taking interest in the case of Dr Abdul Jalil Al Singace by raising his case in social media and with the UK Government. In her latest tweet she said: “300 days #AlSingace on hunger strike in Bahrain, asking his confiscated academic research be given to his family.”

The case of Dr Alsingace is attracting wider interest. Scholars At Risk (SAR) has urged for action to get him released. In its latest campaign it said: “SAR calls for letters, emails, and faxes respectfully urging the appropriate 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.”

Andy Slaugher, the Labour MP has urged the UK Government to apply sanctions on human rights abusers in some GCC countries. He said: “Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi are all classed as close trading and political allies of the UK. What they also have in common is locking up political prisoners, torture and execution without due process. Zuhair Abdullah and Husain Rashid are in imminent danger of execution in Bahrain, having exhausted legal remedies. Will the Foreign Secretary be sure to sanction human rights abusers in so-called friendly countries, as well as those that are not so friendly?”

Bahrainis have reacted angrily to the latest murder by the Israelis of a media woman. Today, Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was shot and killed by Israeli occupation forces while covering an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank town of Jenin. It was a cold-blooded murder that has provoked angry feelings especially among those who knew her. The killing is a blatant crime, carried out in daylight by the occupiers. For the people of Bahrain, the crime has brought back sad memories of similar crimes by the khalifis in Bahrain. Ten years ago, On 12th April 2012 regime’s forces shot dead Salah Habib Abbas who was covering a protest by the native Bahrainis at the town of Shakhoura. His killers remain at large.

On 9th May Amnesty International (AI) called for ending travel ban on many former and present political prisoners in Saudi Arabia. It said that it had documented 30 cases for political and human activists those who had been tried, convicted and jailed, in addition to 39 of their relatives. AI has called for an immediate end of these draconian measures that violate their basic human rights.  The travel ban is used as a tool to punish and control activists, writers and journalists by locking them inside the country, or, in the case of those living abroad, by preventing their families from travelling overseas. “The Saudi Arabian authorities’ arbitrary use of travel bans against activists and human rights defenders reflects a bleak reality in the country, where dissenting voices continue to be ruthlessly silenced while leaders speak of progressive reform,” said Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

Bahrain Freedom Movement

11th May 2022

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