Tension in Bahrain on eve of Arab League summit, Saudis execute citizen

As the Arab League summit gets underway in Bahrain, the people have reacted angrily to the event at a time when the country is under virtual security siege by the khalifi regime. Protests have taken place calling for the heads of Arab states to boycott this unholy event. The political prisoners at Jau have also called for boycotting the event as long as the prisons are crowded with Bahraini prisoners of conscience. Among the most significant demand is for the Arab League to ban normalisation processes with Israel and for the five Arab countries that have links with Israel to cut their relations. Many have expressed dismay that the summit is held under the patronage of a regime that had broken the Arab ranks and betrayed the Palestinian cause.

Meanwhile Bahraini political prisoners are subjected to criminal treatment by the regime, including starvation, medical neglect and isolation. On Sunday 12th May political prisoner, Ayman Najm, from Hamala Town, was transferred to isolation for reciting a religious session to mark the martyrdom of Imam Jaffar Al Sadeq. He is serving a life imprisonment on trumped up charges. Yesterday Political prisoner, Jassim Ayyad, 27, was transferred to isolation for passing a sandwich from Bloc 5 where he is held to the hungry prisoners at Bloc 6. He used ropes in the process.

On Monday 13th May khalifi court issued a 3-month prison sentence against two young native Bahrainis:  Qasim Abdul-Zahraa Al-Mubasher, and Haider Muhammad Radhi. Qasim, 17 years old, a resident of the village of Sanad, was arrested on 13th March but was released pending the trial. Haider was detained on 14th February for taking part in a pro-democracy protest and charged with this “serious crime”.

Bahraini activist Ali Muhanna has been arrested for a second time since the start of the month. He was ordered to appear for questioning by police and taken into custody on Sunday after trying to stage a protest in front of the Interior Ministry with other families of political prisoners. He has been campaigning for the release of his son, Hussain, who is serving a lengthy prison term.

Political prisoners have been calling from their cells for a resolution of the political crisis in Bahrain, starting with releasing all political prisoenrs. Ahmed Mohammed Abdulla Isa Al Ghasra from Bani Jamra town demanded his own release saying he had not committed any crime but only called for political reforms. He was detained in 2015 and given various jail sentences totalling 402 years! Life term prisoner, Yousuf Hassan Mohammed demanded his own release arguing that those who died in prison were not given adequate medical care. Hassan Makki, who is serving 15 years, has complained that the situation inside jail is bad and that the prison officials are tightening the noose on them. The bed-ridden father of political prisoner, Hassan Ali Mansoor, has one wish; to see his detained son freed before his own death. He fears that he may depart from this world before his son is released.

The wife of  political prisoner Jassim Al-Barbouri has been on hunger strike since Saturday in  solidarity with her husband and other inmates in Jau Prison. The prisoners complain that the amount of food they receive has been reduced and have been refusing meals in an act of protest. Jau has witnessed a series of protests by the detainees in recent months over inhumane conditions. On 9th May 487 inmates at the notorious Jau prison refused to take their meal.

Abdul Hadi Al Khawaja, the most prominent human rights and political activist who has now spent more than 13 years behind bars, was nominated for the Aurora Prize this year and a video was made about him. But the prize was awarded to Denis Mukwege for his work in treating victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The Bahrain’s National Committee Against Normalisation has called on the khalifi regime to severe its links with Israel. In statement to mark the 76th anniversary of the occupation of Palestine (15th Mary 1948) and the imposition of the Zionist entity it called for abrogating the agreements they had signed with the occupiers. Also the

political prisoners at Jau issued a statement calling for cutting links with Israel.

On Monday 13th May Saudi regime carried out another execution. Young Saudi citizen, Hassan Ahmed Mansoor Al Nasser from Qatif in Eastern Arabia was executed for opposing the Saudi brutal regime. He has been behind bars at the CID prison for the past eight years. He was falsely accused of targeting security personnel and challenging the authority of the ruling House of Saud.

In a serious blow to human rights and the sanctity of human life, Saudi authorities have permitted the use of lethal force to clear land for a futuristic desert city being built by dozens of Western companies. Col Rabih Alenezi says he was ordered to evict villagers from their homes by force if necessary.  This “shoot-to-kill” policy is to make way for The Line, part of the Neom eco-project. The BBC said it had analysed satellite images of three of the villages demolished – al-Khuraybah, Sharma and Gayal. Homes, schools, and hospitals have been wiped off the map. One of those who had refused to leave his home (Abdul Rahim Al Howaiti) was subsequently shot and killed.