Pressure on Saudis to stop executions as khalifis plan to kill two Bahrainis
The Saudis have been criticized for their policy of mercilessly beheading opponents and criminals. Reprieve, the anti-execution human rights body said in a report published this week: In total 184 people were executed last year, including 90 foreign nationals. Of those82 had been executed for smuggling narcotics and 57 for committing murder, according to Reprieve’s execution tracker. Maya Foa, Reprieve’s director, called on the U.S. and U.K., two of the kingdom’s major partners, to call out the executions in the “strongest possible terms,” saying that international pressure “can make a difference.” “Saudi Arabia’s rulers clearly believe they have impunity to flout international law,” Foa told ABC News. “International pressure can make a difference, as the case of Murtaja Qureiris showed last year. Saudi prosecutors spared his life following a worldwide outcry.”
Saudi security forces have continued their incursion into the Eastern Province, targeting opponents and spreading fear among the natives. Inside prisons, the situation is becoming dire for many of the political inmates. Human Rights defender, Walid Abul AlKhair has been transferred to the hospital as his condition worsened following a hunger strike. Mrs Nassema Al Sadeh who has spent more than one year behind bars has now spent 11 months in solitary confinement. She is one of the activists who had called for allowing women to drive.
A senior Saudi cleric has been denied defence lawyers at his trial last week. Sheikh Salman Al Odah, 61, He was arrested in September 2017 shortly after tweeting a prayer for reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and its former regional ally Qatar, three months after Riyadh had launched a blockade against the emirate. Odah is facing the death penalty, and a court was expected to announce a verdict in December. However after several postponements, the court decided that it would open a new series of hearings in the following weeks, according to his son. Amnesty International has repeatedly called on Saudi Arabia’s King Salman to release Odah.
Today is the third anniversary of the execution of three Bahrainis; Sami Mushaima, Abbas Al Sami’ and Ali Al Singace. They were falsely accused of crimes they had not committed. The khalifi dictator signed the death order. International pressure is now mounting on the khalifi dictator to stop the execution of two other natives, Mohammad Ramadan and Hussain Mousa. The European Union has “called upon the Bahraini authorities to halt the execution of the two individuals and ensure that their re-trial will be in accordance with international law and standards.” It added: ” The death penalty violates the inalienable right to life enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. Capital punishment also fails to act as a deterrent to crime. Miscarriages of justice are irreversible. Amnesty International said: ” The two men were taken to the Criminal Investigations Department where they were tortured during interrogation. Mohamed Ramadhan refused to sign a “confession” but Hussain Ali Moosa said he was coerced to confess to the crime and incriminate Mohamed Ramadhan after being suspended by the limbs and beaten for several days. His “confession” was later used as main evidence in the trial to convict both men.”.
Al Wefaq Society has published a damning report on the deteriorating human rights situation in Bahrain. It recorded 154 violations that happened in December including life imprisonments and fines that reached 1.7 million Bahraini Dinars ($5 million). It now appears that Tuberculosis is fast spreading among the inmates at the Central Jau prison. At least 18 of them have been isolated but fears are growing that the regime is taking no serious measures to stop the spread of infectious diseases in those filthy uninhabitable torture chambers.
Political prisoner, Ayyoub Adel has broadcast an appeal to save his life while serving jail sentences of almost 100 years for opposing the khalifi killers. In his appeal this week, he said: I have lost my voice calling for help but no one responded. All I want is treatment for my pain. He suffers various ailments in his body especially his back which needs an immediate operation. When he was detained in June 2013 he was hospitalised for four months but treatment has stopped since then. Another young native Bahraini, Ahmad Hassan Al Madhoon, 24, from Karzakkan is struggling inside the khalifi torture chambers with his epilepsy fits. He has served half of his 8 years sentence at the notorious Jau prison, block 6. He has not received proper medication for his ailment and his family are extremely worried for his life.
Meanwhile protests have continued in several towns and villages. The people of Abu Saiba and Shakhoura went to the streets calling for fundamental political rights including the right to self-determination. They also called for regime change to end the hereditary dictatorship. Other protests erupted in several other places.
Bahrain Freedom Movement
15th January 2020 (info@vob.org, www.vob.org)