Bahrainis sentenced en masse, Migrant workers in Saudi Arabia suffer
On Monday 17th March regime’s court passed a sentence of life imprisonment and a fine of more than $265,000 against Bahraini political prisoner Sayed Hashim Al Alawi. He has been behind bars for more than a year. He was falsely accused of spying and membership of a “terrorist” organisation. Four others were also sentenced in absentia. Sayed Hasim was detained on 11th November 2023 during a house raid on his home.
On Monday 17th March regime’s court sentenced five political prisoners to one year imprisonment and fined four of them about $5000. Ahmed Mahmood Al Satrawi (from Sanabis), Yasser Darwish (from Sanabis), Yousuf Al Shajjar (from Karbabad), Ali Hussain Al Sheikh (from Al Daih) and Ahmed Shahin (from Bani Jamra) were detained after taking part in a peaceful protest in the Autumn.
Regime’s courts have issued a one-year prison sentence on two citizens from Samaheej town. Abbas Awn and Hussain Al Samaheeji were arrested in September 2024. They were pursued by the security officers after they had participated in a peaceful protest.
Four political prisoners are still held at the regime’s prisons despite completing the six-month prison sentence imposed on them and despite payment of about $1300 fine by each of them. Ali Omran, Hussain Saleh Al Barri, Mohammed Khatam and Yousuf Tawq, all under 18 are now arbitrarily detained. Yesterday the regime’s prosecutors extended the detention of three political prisoners two more weeks. Ali Al Zaaki (from Maqaba), Ahmed Abdulla (from Karzakkan) and Ali Mohammed (from Barbar) were detained in February and March.
On Monday 17th March the political prisoners at Bloc 3 of the Jau prison refused to go back to their cells after their daily outing. They were protesting the non-compliance by the prison officers with the agreement that the two sides had reached recently. According to the agreement the harsh treatment of three political prisoners: Mohammed Sarhan, Mohammed Fakhrawi and his brother, Ali would be stopped, including their isolation.
This week marks 14 years since the arrest of leading Bahraini activists Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace (63), Hasan Mushaima (77), Abdulwahab Husain (71), Sheikh Abdul Hadi Al-Mukhodher (55) and Sheikh Saeed Al-Noori (52). The khalifi regime forcibly disappeared, tortured and convicted them in sham trials solely for their peaceful role in the 2011 pro-democracy protests. They are among 10 political ‘icons’ arrested between 17 March and 9 April 2011 who remain unjustly imprisoned in Bahrain, and whose cases were documented by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI). On 15th March the people of Abu Saiba took part in a peaceful protest to condemn the sectarian persecution by the khalifi tribal rule. They were also enraged by the ban imposed by the regime on the main Friday prayers in the country which had been held in Duraz for decades.
Officers at the Al Khamis police station had summoned several people for interrogation. They include Hajji Majid Abdulla, Hajji Abdul Nabi Al Hawwaj, Hajji Ali Hammam, Hajji Munir Mushaima and Mr Ali Muhanna. The summons is linked to their peaceful protests to demand the release of their detained sons.
Bahraini authorities abuse and threaten children detained in connection with protests and other forms of political expression, Human Rights Watch and Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) said on 10th March. In separate investigations, the rights groups found that although Bahrain’s authorities released many children from detention in 2024, they have continued to arrest and detain children and violate their rights. The joint statement said: Bahraini authorities should take urgent steps to end the abuse of children in detention and should only detain children as a last resort in exceptional cases. They should also compensate or provide other appropriate remedies for people who have suffered abuse in detention, including children deprived of their rights during critical childhood years, such as limiting their access to education. “No child or adult who is participating in peaceful protest should be arrested, tortured, and abused,” said Niku Jafarnia, Bahrain and Yemen researcher at Human Rights Watch.
On 18th March online website “Equal Times” published an article titled: “What can international solidarity do for migrant workers’ rights in Saudi Arabia?”. It said: “Behind Saudi Arabia’s large-scale projects aimed at polishing its image in the eyes of the international community, be it the Asian Cup of Nations in 2027, the Asian Winter Games in 2029, the FIFA World Cup in 2034 or the NEOM futuristic city project, lies a much bleaker reality: thousands of migrant workers in the country are victims of human rights violations and unrelenting discrimination. “It is up to the workers to unite before it is too late. As long as the workers abroad can complain, write letters, join a union… they must do so, and not remain silent,” says Lina al-Hathloul, head of monitoring and advocacy for ALQST, a not-for-profit organisation defending human rights in Saudi Arabia, speaking to Equal Times. Forced displacements, expropriation of Indigenous land, deadly working conditions, death sentences for those who resist, the abuses linked to these monumental construction projects are regularly denounced, all over the world, by NGOs and workers’ organisations, which also criticise the carte blanche given to the Saudi kingdom by some of the world’s leaders.
Bahrain Freedom Movement
19th March 2025
