High Covid-19 levels threaten Bahrainis, Saudis must return martyrs corpses
The Covid-19 cases in Bahrain has, in recent days, risen to new levels that have made it one of the highest per capita in the world. While the number of daily cases passed 3000 the number of deaths has also escalated with up to 28 daily cases. Citizens are angry that the regime’s policies had not targeted the pandemic as a priority. Several failures have led to the present crisis; the insistence on keeping porous borders in order to prove “political normality”, allowing people from India to return after that country suffered the highest number of daily cases reaching up to 400,000, failing to enforce lockdown and social distancing rules, allowing the country to become a quarantine to neighbouring countries, prematurely opening the Bahrain-Saudi causeway and ignoring the pleas to release political prisoners after the prisons were infested with Covid-19. Among the political prisoners known to have contracted the virus are AlHurr Ahmad Muhsin Zain Al Din from Duraz, Abdullah Mohammad Taher Madan, Ahmad Ali Ahmed from Sitra, Ali Abdul Jalil, Mohammed Saleh, Hasssan Al Shakar, Ahmed Isa Ahmed, Mohammed Abdulla Makki, Mohammad Al Farsani and Kamel Abdul Jalil. Bloc 12 of the notorious Jaw prison is one of the hotspots of the pandemic.
On Monday 24th May British MPs tabled a motion calling on the UK government to “suspend technical assistance” to oversight bodies in Bahrain in response to a brutal crackdown against protesting prisoners on 17 April. The crackdown saw prison officials and police officers beating inmates and subjecting them to “torture and cruel and degrading treatment”. A political detainee described to The Middle East Monitor how riot police were “competing” to brutalise him as they dragged him out of the cell, “and beat me with their hands and legs all over my body”. The situation worsened further for him following concerns over an outbreak of Covid-19 in the prison. From 31 March, he and his 10 cellmates were confined to a 20 square metre cell for 18 days, with no means of communicating with the outside world. He said: “No sun, no calls, personal hygiene products ran out and we were not allowed to go to the canteen to get more,”
The UIA Institute for the Rule of Law (UIA-IROL) said that Bahrain Minister of Justice should not use disciplinary proceedings to sanction lawyers exercising their freedom of expression. It explained in a statement on (May 11, 2021) that the punishment imposed on Mr. Abdullah Al-Shamlawi (a senior human rights lawyer) by the regime, based on his personal opinions, is a clear violation of Articles 19 of the Covenant as well as Article 23 of the Constitution of Bahrain, both of which protect freedom of expression. UIA-IROL added that the disciplinary proceedings instituted against Mr. Al-Shamlawi were totally unfounded and improper. Mr. Al-Shamlawi’s tweets were his personal, not professional opinions, and as such, it was inappropriate for the Disciplinary Council to even consider his case. It called for the immediate repeal of these arbitrary punishments.
One of the leading figures of the Bahraini Revolution, Dr. Abd Al-Jalil Al-Singace has been targeted for medical neglect and continuous harassment. He has been suffering knee and back injuries after a fall some time ago. He is riddled with Polio since birth and uses two crutches to move around. The lack of medical care has left him in extreme pain. The prison officials have refused to replace his worn–out crutches despite many requests. His life is now in danger as his lack of movement could lead to respiratory and problems which happened to him before. One of his relative, Mohammad Al Singace has been on hunger strike for 12 days as his legitimate demands were ignored. His sugar level has dropped to 3.3 percent and his family is extremely worried for his life.
Reprieve has urged people to sign a petition calling on Saudi authorities to release Abdullah al Howaiti. He was 14 years old when he was arrested, held incommunicado for four months and tortured. He was forced to ‘confess’ to a crime he couldn’t have committed. He was sentenced to death for that crime in 2019. It said; The Saudi Arabian authorities reveled in positive publicity after they announced an end to the use of the death penalty against child defendants in April 2020. Yet, at least 10 child defendants remain at risk of the death penalty over a year later – including Abdullah. It has been confirmed that Abdullah Jailan, a blogger from the city of Madinah has been detained bey Saudi authorities since 12th May for tweeting.
On May 19, 2021, a coalition of 11 organisations jointly called on Saudi Arabia to return the remains of those executed by the Saudi authorities. In their joint statement, the organisations also called for those responsible for the April 2019 mass execution of 37 people to be held accountable. On 23 April 2019, the Government of Saudi Arabia executed 37 persons in the largest mass execution of children, and the second-largest mass execution, to date during the reign of King Salman and his son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Since 2019, the government has compounded the tragedy, refusing to return the remains of many of those executed to their families, denying them the right to truth and violating the prohibition of torture and other inhumane acts.
Bahrain Freedom Movement
26th May 2021 (info@vob.org, www.vob.org)