Hasan Fadhel Al-Bahhar is a Bahraini youth who is currently serving his alternative punishment and is under house arrest. Despite being a minor, he was arbitrarily arrested, interrogated alone, and subjected to multiple human rights violations, including torture and unfair trial. He was recently charged in the case of burning an electoral site and sentenced to three years in prison.

Authorities have been monitoring Hasan ever since he was 13 years old, and he was constantly summoned to the Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID) where they would ask him about his friends, mainly including a man named Kameel Jumaa. They would beat and threaten him during his questioning and force him to sign papers without knowing their content because he has difficulties reading. In 2019, when Hasan was 14 years old, he was summoned to Sitra Police Station and offered to work as an informant. An officer even tried to give him money, but Hasan refused. After a while, Hasan’s father was summoned to the police station and officers made him sign some papers. Following these events, his parents were constantly questioned by the Ministry of Interior about Hasan. A few days later, Hasan received a call from the ministry and they told him to consider himself already imprisoned and that they will not leave him alone. Hasan would constantly be contacted by officers at random hours of the day – for example, at 2:00 AM when he was asleep, or when he was at school. They asked him about his wanted friends. Hasan lived in fear, worry, and danger, and could not sleep at his house, at times going to sleep at his grandfather or aunt’s house. Moreover, Hasan failed his exams because he stopped going to school. He went through hard times with his family because of the constant fear and worry of getting arrested.