SALAM: Arrest of former Bahraini councillor Hameed Al-Basri is unlawful and he must be swiftly released

On 28 December 2015, the Bahraini authorities carried out an unwarranted early morning raid on the property of former Manama councillor (2006 to 2010), Hameed Al-Basri (58 years old).

Mr Al-Basri was forcefully detained without the production of a warrant by the security forces that arrested him, and his personal computer was confiscated. He called his family the day after his arrest, stating that he was being held in the Criminal Investigations Department, and currently not charged with any offences.

Mr Al-Basri was a former member of the Islamic Awareness Society and former administrative figure of the Sanabis religious centre. He holds a degree from a British university in Electrical Engineering, and is a married with four sons and two daughters.

According to a trusted source, Mr Al-Basri was impatiently investigated, and was quickly pegged, along with numerous other activists and political prisoners, under the charges of terrorism, allegedly in the so-called case of “Social Gathering Group”. The source further states that he was put under considerable pressure to make him yield to the charge, and was detained for 30 days for further investigation, with the detention being extended on 4 February 2016.

SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights and trusted sources have followed Mr Al-Basri’s case with considerable attentiveness the case of the so-called “Social Gathering Group”. SALAM can conclude that the victims of this obscure and groundless case are torture victims, particularly Mohammed and Ali Fakhrawi, who have been accused in this same case. Similarly, Mr Al-Basri has been accused in this case to punish him for his political opposition and social activism, which he has previously been imprisoned for in the eighties.

SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights demands that the charge posed against Mr Al-Basri is expeditiously dropped, and the obscure case of the “Social Gathering Group” closed entirely, as evidences, rationale, and reasoning of the case are wholly fabricated.