MPs call for Bahraini prisoners release, F1 criticised for holding Saudi race
Regime’s torture apparatus has arrested several people in the past week. Among them was Sayed Ahmed Sayed Ra’id Al Mousawi. He had been summoned to the torture centre where he was detained. The brother of martyr Sami Mushaima who had been executed on orders from the khalifi dictator continues to be persecuted. Few days ago, Munir Mushaima was summoned for interrogation for speaking about the calamity of his family resulting from the unlawful killing of his brother.
Political prisoners have continued to express their grievances and ill-treatment when they call or see their families. Sayed Alawi Al Alawi has described to his family the extent of the horrific ill-treatment meted on the prisoners of conscience. Abdul Aziz Abdul Reda has pleaded to get medical treatment but his calls have not been heeded and remains in a dire medical state. Sayed Abbas Sayed Mahdi also issued a call to get medical treatment for his severe ailments. Another political detainee, Mirza Qassim Al Durazi has accused the prison officials of denying the prisoners their basic rights and persecuting them. Hussain Aman wrote a letter to the UN High Commissioner urging him to intervene in order to alleviate the continued suffering of the prisoners of conscience and the lack of medical care. Another Bahraini political prisoner is on hunger strike to protest the denial of medical treatment. Miqdad Al-Jazeeri has been on hunger strike since March 9 after the cancellation by prison authorities of multiple doctor’s appointments and an eye surgery.
The political prisoners at Bloc 6 of the notorious Jau prison have continued their protests until their rights have been fulfilled. One of the senior torturers has threatened to call the regime’s forces to crush the protests by force. Meanwhile Abdul Wahab Hussain who has been behind bars for over 12 years has called on people not to ignore the political prisoners saying they deserve care and attention.
Protests have continued in various parts of the country to mark the 12th anniversary of the military incursion by the Saudi and Emirati forces in March 2011. The aim of the aggressors was to crush the people’s Revolution that had started one month earlier. They were also marking the arrests of the Bahraini leaders who were rounded up three days after the criminal aggression. From Sitra to Demstan to Sanabis people chanted defiant slogans demanding an end to the illegitimate khalifi regime and calling for the immediate release of the prisoners.
In London, Chris Law MP tweeted: “The 17th March is the 12th anniversary of Hassan Mushaima’s arrest. Hassan Mushaima, Abdul Jalil AlSingace and many other political leaders in Bahrain (remain in prison). I express my solidarity with the imprisoned political leaders in Bahrain and call for their immediate and unconditional release”. Another MP, Martyn Day MP tweeted: “Today marks the 12th anniversary of the unjust arrest of political leaders and human rights defenders in #Bahrain. I demand #FreeHassanMushaima #FreeAlSingace and all political prisoners. UK Government, join me in solidarity and call for their release.”
The Chief Executive Officer of Formula One Stefano Domenicali has repeatedly defended holding the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, insisting that it can be an agent of “positive change”. This is undermined, however, by the ongoing and intensifying repression in the country which has reached a new low. The brother of a man executed by the Saudi Arabian authorities last year has accused Formula One of being complicit in “heinous crimes” perpetrated by the state, which he insists is using F1 to sportswash an increasingly oppressive crackdown on dissent. When F1 returned to the Jeddah circuit last weekend it was just over a year since the Saudi state executed 81 men in one day, shortly before last year’s grand prix. Mustafa al-Khayyat was one of the 81 men. Last Thursday his brother Yasser al-Khayyat wrote to the F1 chief executive, Stefano Domenicali, asserting that he had been executed for nothing more than taking part in pro-democracy protests. He argued that F1’s presence in the Kingdom had emboldened the authorities to act brutally and without compunction. “They use the spectacle of this sporting championship to distract from the murder of my brother and hundreds of others,” he wrote. “The grand prix carrying on as normal, without even mentioning the atrocities that have just been committed on that same soil, legitimises these heinous crimes.”
The 20th of March marks six years since the UAE arrested the country’s most prominent and outspoken human rights activist, Ahmed Mansoor. He remains imprisoned to this day, held in appalling conditions and serving a 10-year prison term for expressing his views on social media. #The friends of Ahmed Mansoor have called for his release by the UAE government. They tweeted: “Six years ago, on 20 March 2017, Ahmed Mansoor was arrested. He was later sentenced to 10 years in prison on trumped up charges. He is still in prison. He has no bed and almost no access to the outside world. Please be his voice. Urge Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid and Mohammed bin Zayed to free Ahmed”.
Bahrain Freedom Movement
22nd March 2023