ADHRB Weekly Newsletter #370
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** Bahrain
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** Profile in Persecution: Ali Fadhel Abbas
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Ali Fadhel Abbas, a 21-year-old garage worker, was arbitrarily arrested in 2019 at the Bahrain International Airport while returning from Iraq, where he visited the shrine of Imam Husain on the 40th day of his martyrdom. He is currently detained in Dry Dock Detention Center, where he has been for almost a year, awaiting the issuance of his judgment.

When Ali arrived at the airport on 31 October 2019, he was questioned about his trip before being arrested. Civilian officers from the passport department arrested Ali without presenting an arrest warrant, and he was transferred to the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) for investigation. Ali was subjected to enforced disappearance during the first few hours of his arrest. Ali’s family learned of his arrest from his friends who were with him; they were not informed of his arrest in an official manner. The family received a call from Ali hours after his arrest informing them that he was at the CID.

During the investigations, Ali was asked about the names of people in town who had taken part in demonstrations and spoken up against the system. However, Ali always responded that he did not know their names, and that he did not participate in any activity related to the revolution or assemblies. He was then transferred to the ‘Interrogations Building’ (Building 15) of Jau Prison, where he was questioned and tortured for eight days for a period of nine to 11 hours per day. After that, he was transferred to the Criminal Investigations Directorate in Adliya and kept there for 15 days, before being transferred to Dry Dock Detention Center. At the beginning of the interrogation, Ali did not yet have a lawyer, and therefore did not have access to legal counsel. When Ali appointed a lawyer, he was still prohibited from attending the investigation. 23 days after his arrest, Ali was brought before a judge at the Public Prosecution Office (PPO).

Despite this torture, Ali did not confess. Almost a month after his arrest, he was allowed to contact his family for the first time while being at Dry Dock Detention Center.

Read the full report here. ([link removed])


** ADHRB at the UN
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** Saudi Arabia Fails to Deliver on Promises to Abolish Death Penalty against Children
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On 28 september, at HRC45 Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain, the European Saudi Organization for Human Rights, and Reprieve deliver this statement on behalf of Taha al-Hajji, a former lawyer in Saudi Arabia on Promises to Abolish Death Penalty against Children.

Watch the video and read the full statement here. ([link removed])


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** Culture of Impunity and arrest of Women Human Rights Defenders in Saudi Arabia
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On 25 September 2020, ADHRB has delivered an oral intervention at the United Nation Human Rights Council session 45 during on interactive debate under item 4.

Watch the video and read the full statement here. ([link removed])


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** GCC in the Wire
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** - ([link removed]) China and Russia win seats on UN rights council, Saudis lose (AP) ([link removed])
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UNITED NATIONS (AP) - China, Russia and Cuba won seats on the U.N.’s premiere human rights body Tuesday despite opposition from activist groups over their abysmal human rights records, but another target, Saudi Arabia, lost.



** - ([link removed]) UN aid chief: Funding shortage cuts aid to 4 million Yemenis (AP) ([link removed])
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UNITED NATIONS (AP) - A funding shortage has cut off aid to 4 million Yemenis and experts are increasingly worried that “the window to prevent famine” in the war-torn country is closing quickly, the U.N. humanitarian chief said Thursday.


** - ([link removed]) Hundreds of Indian workers demand unpaid wages from Saudi construction firm (Reuters) ([link removed])
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CHENNAI, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Hundreds of Indian migrant workers who were laid off by a construction company in Saudi Arabia due to the coronavirus pandemic have filed a rare complaint to the Indian government over unpaid earnings, lawyers and campaigners said.


** - ([link removed]) UK festival curator accuses UAE minister of sex assault (AP) ([link removed])
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LONDON (AP) — The chair of Britain’s Hay literary festival said Sunday the event will not return to Abu Dhabi after one of the festival’s curators alleged that she was sexually assaulted by the tolerance minister of the United Arab Emirates while working with him. Lawyers for the minister later denied her account.

- Festival cancels Abu Dhabi event after allegations of sexual assault (The New York Times) ([link removed])

The Hay Festival, an annual staple of Britain’s literary calendar, announced on Monday that an offshoot event to promote freedom of speech and women’s empowerment would no longer be held in Abu Dhabi after one of its employees accused the United Arab Emirates’ minister of tolerance of sexual assault.


** - ([link removed]) Saudi retail chains join growing informal boycott of Turkish products (Reuters) ([link removed])
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RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s biggest supermarket chains this week joined a growing boycott of Turkish imports proposed by business leaders and Saudis on social media, as political tensions spilled into trade between the two regional powers.


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Are you a victim of a human rights abuse in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, or other GCC states?

Document your case with the Special Procedures of the United Nations through
** ADHRB's UN Complaint Program ([link removed])
.

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Contact us at: ** [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])

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