Al-Khawaja convicted by khalifis, Reprieve confirms 20 Saudi executions
The family of Bahrain’s leading human rights defender said he was denied his right to legal representation in the cases that are linked to protests he had made after he was repeatedly denied his right to call his daughters from Jau Prison. They said Abdul-Hadi al-Khawaja, who was convicted yesterday of insulting an officer and breaking a plastic chair had been denied the right to defend himself against bogus charges. He has served 12 years of his life sentence imposed by the rulers in 2011. Yesterday his daughter, Maryam tweeted: After sentencing him yesterday, they went today and did the power of attorney for him, it took all of ten minutes. This wasn’t an accident or a mistake, this was a very calculated conscious decision to deny my father his right to legal representation. On 24th November Amnesty International issued an urgent appeal on this case. It said: “An Urgent Action was issued today on behalf of dual Danish-Bahraini national and prisoner of conscience Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, who is serving a life sentence in prison for leading peaceful protests during the 2011 popular uprising in Bahrain. He is now facing a number of separate trials accused of breaking a plastic chair and insulting a police officer. All charges against Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja must be dropped as these new cases against him compound his unjust imprisonment for the peaceful exercise of his human rights.”
The use of torture by the khalifi regime has remained an essential part of the interrogation process with the native Bahrainis. In shocking recent revelations from inside prisons, several political detainees have confirmed that they had been tortured one year ago. Mohammed Abdul Jabbar Mansoor from Al-Ekr town said he had been detained on 11th November 2021, beaten mercilessly and subjected to sexual assaults before and during the interrogation. He was forced to sign a false statement that he had received $106 for “arson”, the claim was used as a basis for his conviction. Another detainee, Abdul Jabbas Isa Abdullah Hassan Mohammad, 21 was detained on 22nd November 2021. He was tortured from the moment of his arrest. He said he was blind-folded and shackled for ten days of interrogations, each lasting eight hours every day. He was forced to sign false confessions which were used to convict him. The judges refused to investigate torture claims.
Families are extremely worried about their detained children after Covid-19 outburst at the notorious Jau prison. The political inmates at Bloc 8 (No 14 previously) became more anxious when political prisoner, Abu Ali Al Najjar was moved from the bloc following the deterioration of his condition. The authorities did not carry out tests to establish the extent of the spread of the disease. The mother of political prisoner Qais Abbas has made a passionate plea to save her son whose health is deteriorating due to lack of medical care. Another political prisoner, Ibrahim Al Samahiji has also confirmed that he has been denied proper medical care for his various ailments.
The wife of political prisoner, Ahmad Isa is worried about her husband with whom she has had not contact for some time. She said that her child was only six months when his father was snatched by the khalifi agents seven years ago. The family of political prisoner Hassan Abdul Nabi Hassan is also worried when their scheduled visit to their son was cancelled. They have not received any call from him for some time
Political prisoner Murtada Yousuf has finished six of ten years jail sentence for speaking out against the regime. He considers himself a typical case of medical negligence for 20 months. He has persistent headache, feels numbness in his limbs and often has nausea. His movement is seriously impaired. He was seen by a doctor in prison who recommended that he was seen by a specialist but this did not happen.
Reprieve, the international body against capital punishment has said: 20 men have been executed in the past two weeks for alleged drug related crimes in Saudi Arabia. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s regime has been on an execution spree and shows no sign of stopping. That means that Reprieve client, Hussein Abo al-Kheir, could be next. A few days ago, Saudi Arabian prison authorities told Hussein he would be moved to the area in the prison where executions take place – some of those killed in recent days were Hussein’s cellmates. Hussein and his family are terrified. He is a Jordanian father of eight and was tortured into ‘confessing’ to smuggling drugs – a confession he retracted in court.
Two years ago, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention called on the Saudi authorities to release Saudi cleric Sheikh Mohammad Al Habib. Yet, he remains detained for speaking up against discrimination faced by Saudi Arabia’s Shi’a minority. Sheikh Al Habib supports peaceful protests against the systematic discrimination faced by the Shia Muslims of Eastern Arabia. He has been facing intimidation for some time.
Detained human rights defender Mohammed al-Qahtani has now been denied any family contact for over a month, with the Saudi authorities continuing to subject him to enforced disappearance despite the expiry of his sentence. He has served his full 10-year prison sentence for his human rights work. Ten days ago, a letter signed by 14 NGOs was delivered the Saudi embassies in several countries, urging the regime to release al-Qahtani.
Bahrain Freedom Movement
30th November 2022