17 January 2022 – Today, a coalition of 27 human rights organisation including the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, Amnesty International and Committee to Protect Journalists have written to leaders in democratic countries including the the President Biden and the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The human rights organisations are calling for the immediate and unconditional release of respected Bahraini academic, blogger, and human rights defender, Dr Abduljalil AlSingace, who is serving a life sentence for his peaceful role in Bahrain’s 2011 uprising. He is currently on day 194 of a hunger strike protesting the confiscation of academic research, which he spent the last 4 years in prison writing by hand. Most of the hunger strike he has spent in a hospital due to his deteriorating health.

Husain Abdulla, Executive Director of Americans for Human Rights & Democracy in Bahrain (ADHRB), commented: “The United States have claimed to be centering human rights in its foreign policy but they have yet to call for the release of Dr AlSingace. This is a test case on how the US reacts to their closest allies when they infringe upon human rights. We will be judging these commitments through actions and not words.”

Read the full article here

More than half of the population of Bahrain participated in a peaceful pro-democracy movement in 2011. These protests challenged structural inequalities, corruption, repression of fundamental human rights, religious sectarianization, and a lack of democratic political representation in Bahrain. The Government of Bahrain brutally repressed the protesters and since 2011, the government has further intensified its control of civil society by interrogating, arresting, and arbitrarily imprisoning thousands of human rights defenders, journalists, political opposition leaders, and religious figures.

The Bahraini authorities frequently utilise the broad 2017 Counterterrorism Law and the Press Law, amended in 2019. These laws effectively criminalize the right to freedom of speech and assembly by both prominent and lesser-known peaceful activists, journalists, human rights defenders, and opponents of the government. Furthermore, torture is systematically employed by Bahraini officials in government buildings, including prisons and detention centers, as a method to force confessions which are later used against the defendants in the trial. It is safe to say that a culture of impunity remains embedded in the Bahraini system and everyday human rights violations and the censoring of dissenting voices are now the norms.

Read the full article here

Hasan Abdulla Ahmed was only 19 years old when he was arrested without a reason or warrant. He is currently held in Jau Prison, where he suffers from various medical conditions amidst medical negligence and ambiguity at the hands of the administration.

On 31 July 2014, Hasan was on his way to Mecca to perform Umrah when he was arrested by officers in civilian clothing during a search in Bahrain on the King Fahd Causeway. The authorities did not present any arrest warrant, and the reason for the arrest was not indicated.

Hasan was forcibly disappeared for a week after his call on the day of his arrest, during which he was interrogated. While Hasan did not disclose details of his mistreatment out of fear since his calls are monitored, he had been beaten all over his body, especially on his back, which led to him developing disc disease and needing to be transferred to the hospital after losing consciousness. Hasan ended up confessing to the charges raised against him under torture. Hasan was only able to contact his lawyer two months after his arrest and met with his family after his transfer to  Dry Dock Detention Center. Hasan was accused  of fraudulent cards and manufacture of explosives, and he was sentenced to 27 years in prison and a 2,000-Bahraini-Dinar fine.

Read the full article here