ADHRB Weekly Newsletter #423
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** Bahrain
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** The Unprincipled, Targeted, and Illegal Practice of Arbitrary Detention in Bahrain
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Ten years ago, a mass pro-democracy movement arose in Bahrain in response to the authoritarian Al-Khalifa regime. Rather than allowing Bahraini citizens to exercise their right to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, the authorities chose to quell the protests by arresting and charging hundreds of Bahraini human rights defenders and everyday civilians.

Arbitrary detention is a common tactic utilized by Bahraini authorities to obstruct human rights advocacy and silence dissident voices within the country. Since 2011, the government of Bahrain has arrested thousands of human rights defenders, religious figures, doctors, lawyers and others.

In a majority of cases, the arrests are extrajudicial. Records of Bahrain’s police officers show a strong and consistent record of arresting people without presenting any valid warrants. During their detention, those people are not able to exercise their right to legal counsel. Furthermore, torture and other types of threats are common in Bahraini detention centers. Many imprisoned individuals must make a choice: denounce human rights activists and confess to crimes they did not commit or face reprisals against them and/or their family members.

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** Profile in Persecution
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** Sayed Mujtaba Alawi AlKhabbaz
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Sayed Mujtaba Alawi AlKhabbaz, a university student in his first semester of computer engineering, was only 17 years old when he was warrantlessly arrested in Ghuraifa. Sayed has since been subjected to severe torture and ill-treatment at the hands of the Bahraini authorities who have deprived him of the chance to complete his higher education. Sayed, who had never been summoned or arrested before, remains in the Dry Dock Detention Center, awaiting the issuance of a judgement on his case.

On 1 October 2020, one week before he turned 18, security patrols surrounded Sayed Mujtaba while he was with a friend in Ghuraifa. Officers in civilian clothing as well as officers from the Ministry of Interior (MoI), including riot police, security police forces, and CID officers arrested Sayed without mentioning a reason for the arrest nor presenting an arrest warrant. Sayed Mujtaba was then taken to the special investigations building at the airport, where he was held and interrogated without his lawyer for 10 days. Following that, he was taken to the CID in Adliya, before being presented to the Public Prosecution on 11 October 2020, with his lawyer present at that time. On that same day, Sayed Mujtaba was transferred to Dry Dock Detention Center. He was only able to call his family for one minute the day after his arrest to inform them that he was at the investigations building. Moreover, upon his transfer to Dry Dock Detention Center, Sayed Mujtaba could not contact his family for five
days because his telephone card was not activated.

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** GCC in the Wire
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A group of UK politicians have accused Bahrain of “textbook greenwashing” as the Gulf state promoted its green credentials at COP26 while continuing to participate in the Saudi-led war in Yemen they say is causing “irreparable damage” to the environment. Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa attended the UN’s annual climate conference this week in Glasgow, where he met British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on the side lines.

Boris Johnson’s government has been accused by MPs of prioritising trade agreements over national security in its handling of surveillance abuses on British soil by governments using spyware made by the Israeli company NSO Group. A letter to the British prime minister signed by 10 MPs and peers has called on the government to end its cybersecurity programmes with countries that are known to have used NSO spyware to target dissidents, journalists and lawyers, among others, and to impose sanctions on NSO, “if they are at all serious about our national security”.

Eddie Howe conducted his first press conference as Newcastle United manager on Wednesday and it didn’t take long for questions over human rights violations in Saudi Arabia to come up. The Magpies were sold to a Saudi-led consortium in October and after Steve Bruce was relieved of his managerial duties on October 20th, Eddie Howe was finally confirmed as his replacement on Monday of this week.

The United Arab Emirates, nicknamed “Little Sparta” by former U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis due to Abu Dhabi’s disproportionate military capabilities relative to its small geographic size, is repeatedly highlighted as one of the United States’ most critical partners in the Middle East. According to this perspective, Abu Dhabi is a vital ally for deterring Iran, countering terrorism, and promoting regional stability.


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

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