Profile in Persecution: Ali Fadhel Abbas
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.
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