23-year-old Jasim Mohamed AlEskafi was working at Mondelez International’s Kraft Factory, in addition to freelance farming and sales work, when he was arbitrarily arrested by the Bahraini authorities on 23 January 2018. During his detention, he was subjected to several human rights violations. Since April 2019, Jasim has been held in Jau Prison.

At around 1:30 a.m. on 23 January 2018, masked security forces, armed officers in civilian clothing, a large number of riot forces, and Commando forces surrounded and raided Jasim’s house without presenting any arrest warrant. They then stormed his bedroom while he and all his family members were sleeping, and arrested him after threatening and pointing weapons at him. The masked men searched the room where Jasim’s younger brother was also sleeping, confiscated and searched his phone before returning it to him, then pulled Jasim outside without allowing him to wear shoes or even a jacket to protect him from the cold weather at that time of the year. The forces also dug in the garden of the house, and confiscated the personal phones of the family members, as well as Jasim’s father’s car. The raid lasted until 6 a.m., and no one was allowed to leave the house. He was then transferred to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) before being transferred to the Investigations Department of Jau Prison in Building 15, where he was interrogated.

During the interrogation, Jasim was tortured by law enforcement officers while blindfolded and handcuffed. He was beaten, he was forced to take his clothes off in the open air in exceedingly cold weather, and cold water was poured on him in order to force him to confess to information about other individuals in the opposition and to confess to the charges against him. Despite all the torture, officers failed at first to coerce Jasim into giving a false confession. His lawyer was not able to attend the interrogations, as Jasim was not allowed to meet anyone.

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