ADHRB Weekly Newsletter #409
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** Bahrain
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** Rights Groups Urge Bahrain to Release Dr Abduljalil Al Singace, Jailed Academic on Hunger Strike
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16 leading human rights groups including Amnesty International, Scholars at Risk and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy have issued a statement calling for the release of jailed Bahraini academic, blogger and human rights defender Dr Abduljalil AlSingace, who has been on hunger strike since 8 July 2021 to protest ill treatment and demand the return of a book he wrote in prison which was confiscated by prison authorities.

The letter states that the confiscation of Dr AlSingace’s book, upon which he dedicated at least four years of research, “is an unjust punishment” adding that “authorities must ensure the protection of his rights, including the return of his intellectual property.” The signatories go on to call “for Dr AlSingace’s immediate and unconditional release and for his work to be immediately given to his family.” Dr ASingace’s book, a study of Bahraini Arabic dialects, contains no political content but authorities have refused to return it, despite promises.

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** Profile in Persecution
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** Mohamed Jaafar AlDemistani
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Mohamed Jaafar AlDemistani was a 20-year-old assistant chef when Bahraini authorities arrested him without a warrant in May 2015. Since his arrest, Mohamed has suffered both physically and psychologically as a result of torture and ill-treatment. He remains in Jau Prison where he is serving a life sentence.

On 8 May 2015, officers in civilian clothing and a group of civilian patrols surrounded Mohamed and his friends near his friend’s house. Without presenting an arrest warrant nor providing a reason, they arrested him and two of his friends by shooting at them with live bullets after they attempted to escape.

Mohamed had been summoned twice prior to his arrest, and during the questioning he would be offered to work with authorities as an informant. Upon his refusal, officers would repeatedly call him, prompting him to change his phone number. The officers were angered by this and thus chased Mohamed for six months, also raiding his house twice over the course of two weeks

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** GCC in the Wire
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- Rights organisations demand Bahrain release opposition figure on hunger strike ([link removed]) (France 24)
Sixteen organisations -- including Amnesty International and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) -- called on Bahraini authorities to release Abduljalil al-Singace, who is serving a life sentence for his involvement in a 2011 uprising.

- Saudi Arabia: Authorities ramp up repression after G20 hiatus ([link removed]) (Amnesty International)
Saudi Arabian authorities have brazenly intensified the persecution of human rights defenders and dissidents and stepped up executions over the past six months, following a lull in prosecutions of activists and a sharp decline in use of the death penalty during Saudi Arabia’s G20 presidency last year, said Amnesty International in a new briefing published today.

- Human rights activist and close ally of detained Dubai princess had phone hacked by NSO spyware, forensic test finds ([link removed]) (The Washington Post)
A phone belonging to a prominent supporter of two princesses who fled Dubai was infected with Pegasus spyware last year, a new forensic examination shows, offering more evidence that government clients of the Israeli surveillance giant NSO Group have used its phone-hacking tool to target human rights activists.

- Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed seeks to cut influential clerics down to size ([link removed]) (The Washington Post)
In May, the Saudi government barred the use of loudspeakers to amplify prayers and sermons at mosques and ordered that the volume of the traditional call to prayer, which has long echoed across the kingdom five times a day, be turned down by two-thirds. When a little-known religious leader penned an online article criticizing the decision by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, he was arrested, according to two Saudi human rights groups, and his once-active Twitter account went silent.


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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
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Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain . 1001 Connecticut Avenue NW . Suite 205 . Washington, DC 20036 . USA

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