Harsh sentences for Bahrain activists, UK arms to Saudis face legal lawsuit
The regime’s courts in Bahrain have issued harsh prison sentences against ten native Bahrainis for opposing the hereditary dictatorship. Life sentences were imposed on Ahmed Al Hady, Ahmed Al Shaikh and Hussain Al Shaikh. Seven others were given seven years: Hussain Muhanna, Ammar Abdul Ghani, Hussain Ayyad, Hussain Al Mu’min, Yasser Al Mu’min, Ahmed Al Qubaiti and Aqeel Abdul Rasool. Meanwhile more than 600 political prisoners in Bahrain’s notoriously brutal Jau Prison announced they were severing all contact with the outside world in an act of protest against inhumane living conditions and “many daily violations”. Last week they issued a statement detailing their grudges and their action could lead to escalation of protests inside the prisons.
On 25th January, khalifi court convicted Hassan Abd Ali to seven years imprisonment and a fine of more than $250,000. Last month he was extradited by the Kuwaiti government as he was leaving the country on his way back to Bahrain. The court failed to present a single piece of evidence to convict Hassan and solely relied on his confessions which were coerced through threats and deception. None of the other co-defendants in the case were present in the court and they were all sentenced in absentia. No lawyer was present during the interrogation sessions. The sentence is seen as revenge from Moosa Abd Ali, Hassan’s brother who is a refugee in UK.
Yesterday a senior figure who has spent 12 years so far in his torture cell was transferred to the Military Hospital after collapsing. Sheikh Mirza Al Mahroos has been complaining of chest pain for some time but was not given medical treatment. He is now being treated for heart ailment. In 2011 he was given 15 years prison sentence for opposing the khalifi dictatorship.
Several political prisoners have spoken of their predicaments in regime’s jails. Salman Ali Salman has continued his open hunger strike for the third week demanding his transfer to another prison. He is being held with common criminals (those jailed for committing crimes like killing, theft and drug trafficking). Political prisoner Hassan Al Aali who has been in jail since 2014 has described the suffering of the political prisoners. He considers the lack of medical care as one of the most painful. Political prisoner Ayoub Adel Ahmed has accused the authorities of denying him access to desperately needed medical treatment for the last six years. “They want me to die in prison,” he said in an audio recording shared on social media. Another #Bahrain-i political prisoner is alleging deliberate medical negligence on the part of authorities in Jau Prison. Mohammed Reda Al-Farsani said he is being treated with nothing but panadol for skin diseases, an eye condition, and a severe toothache.
On 27th January, a human rights watchdog called on Morocco not to extradite a Shi’ite Muslim to his homeland of Saudi Arabia, citing fears he could face torture and an unfair trial there. Hassan Al Rabea, who has been in Morocco since last summer, has been held in a prison near Rabat after being arrested at Marrakech airport on 14th January, Human Rights Watch said in a statement. Saudi prosecutors accuse Rabea of leaving the kingdom illegally with other activists, the campaign group added. “The Moroccan government should stand for rights and resist Saudi efforts to forcibly return him,” Human Rights Watch said. In 2021, Morocco extradited Osama al-Hasani, a dual Australian-Saudi citizen, to Saudi Arabia in a case that concerned rights groups.
Today, The Times newspaper reported that “Saudi Arabia has almost doubled the rate it is executing people since Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) came to power in 2015, despite the crown prince’s efforts to push his “reformist” agenda into the spotlight”. Reprieve also reported sharp increases in executions: A new report shows the rate of executions in Saudi Arabia has almost doubled under Mohammed bin Salman, from 71 per year to 130 per year. MBS is gaslighting the world, promising to curb the use of the death penalty, while his regime kills people in record numbers. On 24th January death sentences were upheld against three members of the Huwaitat tribe in relation to their peaceful opposition to Neom project in North Western Arabia.
Yesterday, London’s High Court examined the legality of the UK government’s decision to renew sales of arms to Saudi Arabia that could be used in the war on Yemen. The case has been brought by the UK-based NGO, the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), which accuses the government of contributing to breaches of international law and the world’s largest humanitarian disaster in Yemen, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives. The judicial review is expected to last until the end of the week. Ben Jaffey, CAAT’s lawyer, told the court that the UK government should have identified the Saudi coalition’s repeated bombings of civilians and other non-military targets as violations of international law, breaching rules on arms sales.
Bahrain Freedom Movement
1st February 2023