ADHRB Weekly Newsletter #374
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** Bahrain
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** Bahrain Convicts 51 People in Mass Trial Marred by Torture Confessions Due Process Violations
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Bahrain’s High Criminal Court has issued ([link removed]) a judgement convicting 51 individuals to prison sentences ranging from five years to life imprisonment in a mass trial in Manama this morning. Defendants, over half of whom were sentenced in absentia, were convicted on charges including organising and financing a militant group, providing weapons training, committing arson and being in possession of Molotov cocktails. According to family members of one defendant interviewed and according to Documentations of some cases made by ADHRB, the trial was marred by due process violations and the use of evidence obtained under torture.
According to the Bahrain News Agency, Bahrain’s Public Prosecution ordered 52 individuals to be tried after 25 were arrested last year and charged with establishing, organising and managing a group under the guidance of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Prosecutors claimed that defendants planned to target “economic and vital installations, security patrol sites, the headquarters of the Ministry of Interior and (the) Bahrain Defense Force.” Some defendants were also accused of targeting a bank ATM and a transportation company.
Following a public trial on 3 November 2020 during which the court reportedly heard evidence from both defence and prosecution witnesses, the High Criminal Court issued sentences including fines amounting to 100,000 Bahraini Dinars (BD) for seventeen of the defendants (the equivalent of approximately £204,000) and BD 51,400 for three others, as well as allegedly seizing explosive devices including Molotov cocktails. The most severe convictions were lengthy prison sentences ranging from 5 years to life imprisonment for an unknown number of defendants. One defendant was acquitted.
Read the full report here. ([link removed])
** Profile in Persecution
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Profile in Persecution: Saeed Abdulla Alaali
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Saeed Abdulla Alaali was arbitrarily arrested by Bahraini authorities on his 25th birthday, 21 September 2016. During his detention, he was subjected to several human rights violations. Since February 2018, Saeed has been held in Jau Prison.
At 2am on 21 September 2016, police forces from the Ministry of Interior, officers in civilian clothes, as well as officers from the National Security Agency, raided Saeed’s house without presenting any arrest warrant. They were looking for a bag but did not state its contents, and they confiscated the family’s personal phones and mobile devices. Saeed was arrested and subsequently beaten in his home and in the car that drove him to the Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID).
A few hours after his arrest, Saeed was able to contact his parents while at the CID to inform them about his detention. Then he went incommunicado for 22 days, while he was forcibly disappeared at Building 15 of Jau Prison. On 14 October 2016, he was transferred to the Dry Dock Detention Center. The family received the news through Saeed’s fellow inmate in prison. One month later, on 21 October 2016, a week later, he met his parents for the first time since his arrest.
During his interrogation at the CID and at Building 15 of Jau Prison, CID officers and officers from the Terrorism Section at Building 15 of Jau Prison, including officers in civilian clothing, tortured Saeed physically and psychologically. During this period, Saeed was not allowed to meet anyone, and his lawyer was prohibited from attending the interrogations. Despite all the torture, officers failed to coerce Saeed into giving a false confession.
Read the full article here ([link removed])
** Around the Gulf
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** Appointment of UAE Ministry of Interior Official to the Presidency of INTERPOL
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19 international human rights organizations sent a letter to the Secretary-General of Interpol, during which they expressed their concern about the nomination of Major General Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi, Inspector General of the UAE Ministry of Interior, to head the Interpol for the elections that will be held in Abu Dhabi on November 7 and 8.
Read the full article here ([link removed])
** GCC in the Wire
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- ([link removed]) Human Right Watch urges G20 to press Saudis to free illegally detained activists (Reuters) ([link removed])
DUBAI (Reuters) - As current chair of the G20 major economies, Riyadh has tried to repair its image after global outrage at the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Kashoggi at its Istanbul consulate, detention of women’s rights activists and the Yemen war.
- ([link removed]) U.A.E. Changes Laws to Attract Foreign Tourists and Investment (The New York Times) ([link removed])
BEIRUT, Lebanon — The United Arab Emirates announced a series of legal changes over the weekend that improved protections for women, loosened regulations on alcohol consumption and expanded the ability of noncitizens to follow foreign laws for inheritance and divorce.
- ([link removed]) Trump administration advances $2.9 billion drone sale to UAE (Reuters) ([link removed])
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department gave Congress notification it plans to sell 18 sophisticated armed MQ-9B aerial drones to the United Arab Emirates in a deal worth as much as $2.9 billion, people briefed on the notification said.
- ([link removed]) Saudi Arabia finally congratulates Biden on his win (Reuters) ([link removed])
RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia finally congratulated Joe Biden on Sunday over his election victory, more than 24 hours after he defeated Donald Trump, who had close personal ties with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
- ([link removed]) Yemeni officials say armed men kill rebel official in Sanaa ([link removed])
SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni officials said armed men shot dead a rebel official Tuesday as he was heading to his office in the capital Sanaa, the most senior Houthi to be killed in more than two years.
- Saudi-led Coalition destroys two drones launched by Yemen Houthis- Saudi TV (Reuters) ([link removed])
DUBAI (Reuters) - The Saudi-led coalition on Monday destroyed two explosive-laden drones launched by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group in the direction of Saudi Arabia, Saudi state TV said.
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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: ** info@adhrb.org (mailto:info@adhrb.org)
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