ADHRB Weekly Newsletter #400
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** Profile in Persecution
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** Mazen Mansoor AlWanna
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Mazen Mansoor AlWanna was a 35-year-old traffic and insurance broker when he was arrested during a raid to his home in January 2013. Tortured into confessing and forced to sign papers without knowing their content, Mazen was convicted with seven others in a terrorism case known as the ‘Imam Army Cell’. In Jau Prison, Mazen’s health has deteriorated as he has not received proper treatment for pre-existing conditions and he has since contracted COVID-19.

On 26 January 2013, at 1:30 a.m., Mazen and his family were awakened by a loud knock on the door by more than 30 masked officers in civilian clothing and officers from the Ministry of Interior, including riot police, security police officers, and CID officers. They raided and searched Mazen’s family home without presenting a search or arrest warrant and without stating the reason for the arrest. The arresting forces also had a photographer with them who was videotaping the whole process. After confiscating various electronic devices, officers took Mazen to a bus outside his house parked among 50 to 60 other police cars surrounding the neighborhood. Officers blindfolded and handcuffed him.

For the first five days of his arrest, Mazen’s family did not know where he was or what had happened to him until he called them for five minutes on 31 January 2013 to reassure them that he was okay. Mazen was interrogated without a lawyer and was tortured into providing a confession. Investigation officers at the CID in Adliya sexually harassed Mazen, electrocuted him, beat him, held him in a cold room and forced him to stand for two whole days. They also forced him to sign papers without knowing their contents, under the threat to assault his wife.

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** GCC in the Wire
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- Blinken begins Middle East mission to bolster Gaza ceasefire (Reuters) ([link removed])
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken began a Middle East visit in Israel on Tuesday, hoping to bolster its ceasefire with Gaza’s ruling Hamas militants and help speed humanitarian aid to the devastated Palestinian enclave.

- Saudi-led coalition destroys marine mine by Yemen's Houthis in Red Sea -state TV (Reuters) ([link removed])
The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said on Monday it discovered and destroyed a marine mine planted by Iran-aligned Houthis in the south of the Red Sea, Saudi state TV reported. "The discovered marine mine is Iranian made of the 'Sadaf' type," state TV added, citing the coalition.

- Rare protests in Oman over jobs draw massive police response (AlJazeera) ([link removed])
Scattered protests in Oman over layoffs and poor economic conditions have drawn a massive police presence in at least one city in the sultanate, with protesters throwing stones at one point and police firing tear gas.

- The US may still be helping Saudi Arabia in the Yemen war after all (Vox News) ([link removed])
In February, President Joe Biden announced that he was ending America’s “offensive” support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, six years into the conflict that has killed around 230,000 people and triggered the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

- ([link removed]) Matthew Hedges: UK academic files claim over UAE 'torture' (BBC News) ([link removed])
A British academic accused of spying in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has launched legal action against senior security officials claiming he was tortured while imprisoned.

- UK urged to intervene after another photo of Princess Latifa emerges (The Guardian) ([link removed])
The UK government has been urged to intervene to find out whether the Emirati royal Princess Latifa has been genuinely freed from house arrest by her father, after a third Instagram photo appeared in as many days purporting to show her in a Dubai shopping mall.
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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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