Bahrainis face harsher persecution, Saudis escalate repression
On 15th January regime’s court issued harsh sentences on four native Bahrainis. Hassan Mohammad Muslim was given ten years, Ahmad Abdulla Marhoon, 10 years and $300,000 fine, Mohammad Habib Yahya, 3 years and Hussain Isa Zuhair, 5 years and $300,000 fine. The court also issued prison sentences on three other youths from Karranah Town: Faris Habib, 10 years, Abdulla Jaffar, 3 years and Hassan Ali Rashid, 3 years.
A Bahraini political detainee has launched a hunger strike to protest the denial of access to desperately needed medical treatment. Haider Al-Mulla said he suffered stomach hemorrhage and is grappling with other gastrointestinal problems but is only being treated with Panadol. Officials at the Jau prison have targeted a Bahraini prisoner of conscience who had been handed by Serbia. Ahmad Jaffar told his family that they are harassed on daily basis. The regime’s torturers called on their cells in the early hours of the morning almost every day and wreak havoc in the cells. It is an act of aggression, torture and provocation that must be stopped.
A group of political prisoners at Bloc 10 of Jau Prison have written to the authorities urging them to provide humane treatment and end the daily aggression muted on them by the regime’s torturers. They asked for real change in the prison conditions: ending the policy of isolation of detainees, allowing them to exercise their religious duties including mass prayers, and extending the family visits to two hours from half an hour now.
On 16th January, Dr Abdul Jalil Al Singace turned 61 years old, of which he has so far spent over 12 years behind bars. Scholars at Risk (an NGO campaigning in support of persecuted scholars around the world, said: “Today is Dr. Al-Singace’s 12th birthday. He is detained and on a hunger strike when he should be free, at home with his family, and receiving the medical care he urgently needs.” English PEN tweeted: Today, Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace, winner of the 2022 PEN Pinter Prize for an International Writer of Courage, is spending yet another birthday in detention in Bahrain. Join us in sending messages of solidarity and continuing the call to Free AlSingace”. Amnesty International and Human Rights First issued similar statements.
A joint letter has been signed by 20 human rights organizations and addressed to the King of Bahrain and the Crown Prince and Prime Minister. It calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Dr. Abduljalil Al-Singace. It also calls on the regime to ensure he is held in conditions that meet international standards, receives his medication without delay and has access to adequate healthcare, in compliance with medical ethics, and to ensure that his arbitrarily confiscated research is immediately transferred to his family members.
Amnesty International (AI) is taking up the case of 14 Bahraini political prisoners who are severely persecuted. On 11th January it received a letter from their families about their predicament. On 3rd January prison guards attacked 3 detainees at Bloc 3 of the notorious Jau prison. They dragged them from their cells, threw them on the ground and set upon them kicking and hitting them. The torturers stepped over the necks of two of them. Later the 14 were removed from that Bloc, including the three. They were cut off from the outside world and banned from communicating with their families. When three other detainees talked to the regime’s ombudsman office they were subjected to severe treatment. AI calls on the regime to bring those torturers to justice.
Pressure is mounting on the Moroccan Government not to hand an activist to the Saudi regime. Hassan Mohammad Al Rabi’ from Qatif Province was detained at Marrakesh airport on 15th January on his way to Turkey. He had stayed one month in the country as he pondered his future. He had escaped to avoid execution.
On 15th January Amnesty International issued an appeal to the Saudi government to release a woman activist. On 9th August Salma Al Shehab had been given a harsh jail sentence of 34 years to be followed by travel ban for another 34 years. She was a PhD student at Leeds University and was active on social media. English Pen tweeted: “Salma al-Shehab was sentenced to 34 years in prison for tweeting in support of women human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia. Two years on from her arrest we stand in solidarity with her and demand her release.”
A Saudi court has sentenced a senior cleric to death for speaking out against the regime. Sheikh Awadh Al Qarni has been in jail since September 2017 when the crown prince waged an all-out war against critics. The appeal court also increased the prison sentences on three sons of another cleric, Sheikh Safar Al Hawalli. Abdul Rahman, Abdulla and Abdul Rahim had their sentences increased from seven to 17 years for defending their father sine his incarceration in 2017. They protested the new sentences and started a hunger strike. Four members of the family were arrested in July 2018 in addition to their father over a book their father had written in which he criticized the royal family. Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal increased the sentence issued against Sheikh Saadallah Al-Hawali, from 4 to 14 years. He is the brother of Sheikh Safar Al-Hawali,
Bahrain Freedom Movement
18th January 2023