IHRC publishes damning report on Bahrain, four Saudis beheaded
On Friday 30th May two native Bahrainis were arrested and remanded in custody for seven days pending investigation. Mohammed Ahmed Abdulla Al Mo’men (brother of martyr Ali Al Mo’men) and Ali Jaffar Ashoor were detained on 29th May after they were summoned by the CID at the Qudaibiya police station.
On Saturday 1st June regime’s prosecutors extended the detention of Jaffar Habib Sutlan, from Abu Saiba town, Hassan Lo’ai Al Jamri (from Bani Jamra), Hussain Mohammed Al Banna (from Muharraq) and Hassan Abdulla Ahmed Abdul Hai from Sanabis town for 15 more days. They had been arrested one week earlier from Duraz following peaceful protests to mark the 8th anniversary of the “Al fidaa massacre” that happened in May 2017 outside Sheikh Isa Qassim’s house.
On Monday 2nd June the Supreme Criminal court in Bahrain adjourned the trial of five native Bahrainis from Samaheej town until 7th July claiming it wanted to call witnesses. The court is expected to issue its verdict against these innocent men. Abdulla Yousuf Al Mo’athen, Hassan Masood, Ali Yousuf Al Habib, Ahmed Abdul Latif and Ali Reda Mashakheel were subjected to harsh treatment including torture to extract “confessions”.
The one-man campaign by Mohammed Al Singace has continued unabated. It started several weeks ago when the former political prisoner who had spent ten years behind bars decided to make his case public. He has been campaigning outside the Ministry of Labour raising his banner that highlights the plight of thousands of unemployed youths due to the government’s policies. Since his release he has been searching for a job without success. The lack of employment opportunities is causing extreme hardship to families who have no other income. Former political prisoners find it extremely difficult to find a job.
The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) has published a report titled: “Campaign for democratisation and empowerment in Bahrain”. The research and campaign have highlighted, amongst other things, the use of violence and torture against Bahraini pro-Democracy campaigners, the use of citizenship stripping against opposition figures and the use of mercenary forces to quell any popular grassroots movement critical of the government. IHRC has published reports and briefings detailing this and many other human rights abuses by the Bahraini state.
Today, Wednesday 4th June the management of the Dry Dock Prison banned the under-aged prisoners from meeting their families. Many complaints were made by the families who said their sons were subjected to arbitrary treatment including stopping contacts with their families through visits or phone calls. This is in addition to denial of education, transfer to isolation cells and the use of provocatively bad language by prison guards against the prisoners/
Political prisoner Sayed Jaffar Yousuf has begun a hunger strike in protest at his illegal detention. He said his house was raided on 21st May and he was arrested without knowing his supposed guilt or his fate.
On 3rd June the Saudi authorities executed four individuals on drug-related charges, in direct violation of their promises to curb the use of the death penalty. On Saturday 31st May the Saudi Interior Ministry said that a Saudi national from the Northern region was beheaded. Umar bin Saud Al Shammari is alleged to have killed another citizen. One day earlier three other people had been executed. Tahseen Abdul Rahman Mohammed Banat, a Jordanian was accused of drug smuggling. Two Somali people were also beheaded. Mukhtar Abdi Mohammed and Zakariya Mohsin Abdulla were charged with drug smuggling. These people were given sham trials that are far short of the international standards of fair trials. . Since the beginning of 2025, the authorities have executed 141 individuals, compared to 77 during the same period last year. The spate of executions has continued, despite international calls to observe a moratorium.
Political prisoner, Waleed Abu al-Khair has spent over a decade behind bars in Saudi Arabia for the “crime” of defending human rights. Human rights NGOs have called for his release together with other political prisoners.
A petition calling for the release of a woman political prisoner has been signed by 18,000 people so far. Manahel Al-Otaibi was arrested in 2022, abused and given subjected to a sham trial that sentenced her to 11 years in jail. The petition said: “We believe that Saudi Arabia’s narrative of reform and progress for women’s rights remains meaningless while Saudi women get imprisoned and prosecuted for practising their fundamental rights, and we call on you to immediately and unconditionally release Manahel al-Otaibi.”
Bahrain Freedom Movement
4th June 2025