49 complaints of ill-treatment received in March 2018, SALAM DHR: systematic torture continues

SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights expressed its concern about the number of political detainees in Bahraini prisons after receiving a number of complaints of violations committed by the security services against 49 male and female detainees, including those sentenced to death in March 2018.
Live testimonies are received by SALAM DHR about Mohammed Al Mutghawi and Ahmad Mohsen Zainaldeen, both of whom were sentenced to death, were subjected to physical torture in prison. Fadhil Mohammed Jaafar, Anwar Abdul Aziz Mushaima, Muhammad Abdullah Mahroos, Adel Ahmed Saleh and Hassan Muhammad Taqi were also subjected to torture and severe beatings on the head area and were blindfolded for 6 days and kept in incommunicado detention.
Thirty-one other detainees, including those sentenced to death, are subjected to ill-treatment like solitary confinement and restriction, direct exposure to sun rays for 12 hours and confiscation of their personal possessions. News of a number of them were denied as well as contact with their families and incarceration in solitary confinement. Khalil Al Saffar from Bilad Al Qadeem was also deprived from participating in the funeral of his grandmother. The group was also subjected to various violations, including female detainee Hajar Mansoor.
Violations by the security services responsible for prison administration in Bahrain continued to deprive nine detainees, including Fawziya Mashallah, of treatment and health care.
Jawad Fairooz, head of SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights, said: “The systematic targeting and physical and psychological violations against political detainees in the prisons of the Bahraini regime underscore the lack of seriousness of the authorities in dealing with the human rights file in Bahrain and the adoption of security solutions and methods of intimidation and physical abuse.
“We call upon human rights and international organizations to continue their pressure on the government of Bahrain to stop all violations of human rights and to release all political detainees and to bring all violators of human rights to justice and to redress the victims,” he added.
SALAM DHR confirms that these violations committed by the security and military agencies are not new and have been ongoing since February 2011 with the aim of reprisals against rights activists and reformers as well as human rights defenders and members of their families, including those who are arbitrarily arrested from the cities and villages of Bahrain.
In previous reports, SALAM DHR documented how the Bahraini security authorities adopted physical and psychological methods of torture as a mean of extracting confessions. That is in addition to the clear collusion of the judicial authorities and the public prosecutor, who do not fulfill their legal duty to investigate torture allegations against detainees and prisoners for to political issues in Bahrain. The courts, which lack independence, issue harsh sentences on the basis of malicious accusations by the security services and approved by the public prosecution and, in many cases, death sentences, life imprisonment, revocation of citizenship and forced deportation in trials that do not meet the minimum standards of fair trials.
Although Bahrain has ratified the Convention against Torture, the government and its security services have a long history of abuse, torture and murder. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid bin Ra’ad al-Hussein, said in a written version of his March 2011 review statement that human rights defenders and civil society organizations in Bahrain were subjected to intimidation, harassment and restriction.
It should be noted that the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry established by the King of Bahrain to investigate the events that took place in Bahrain in February 2011, and the consequences of these events, concluded in its report that the security forces in Bahrain committed in a systematic and deliberate manner, many human rights violations such as extracting confessions under torture. One of the most prominent recommendations that have not been implemented to date is accountability.
In his address to the King of Bahrain and His Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Professor Mahmood Bassiouni said that “the Commission’s investigations showed that many detainees were subjected to torture and other forms of physical and psychological abuse inside their prison against certain categories of detainees”.
In addition, the Human Rights Council has on more than one occasion expressed its concern about the violations against detainees in Bahraini prisons, and many of the rapporteurs called for honest and independent investigations and accountability of those responsible for these acts of torture.
SALAM DHR calls for the immediate cessation of all violations and the opening of an immediate and transparent investigation with the participation of international and national rights parties in all violations committed by the official authorities. It also calls on the immediate release of all political prisoners and human rights activists, the cessation of all political trials, the suspension of travel bans on political and human rights activists, and not to target relatives of activists. That is beside the formation of a national committee for justice and reconciliation involving all victims of torture.
SALAM DHR also stressed that the state condones all incidents of torture monitored by local and international human rights organizations and their failure to fulfill their responsibilities in investigating and prosecuting those responsible for these crimes.
This is evidence of torture in Bahrain and that the policy of impunity encourages more members and officers of the security services to commit crimes such as torture, which constitutes a crime against humanity.
Below are the names documented by SALAM DHR of detainees who were subjected to abuse and torture during March 2018:
Torture:
1. Mohammad Al Mutghawi – sentenced to death and had his citizenship revoked.
2. Ahmed Mohsin Zainaldeen – Al Duraz – sentenced to death and had his citizenship revoked.
3. Hashim Hassan Saleh – A’ali.
4. Fadel Mohammed Jaafar – Al Daih – (tortured and specifically beaten on the head area and was blindfolded for 6 days and transferred to solitary confinement).
5. Anwar Abdul Aziz Al-Mushaima – Al Daih (tortured and specifically beaten on the head area and was blindfolded for 6 days and transferred to solitary confinement).
6. Mohammed Abdullah Mahroos – Al Daih- (tortured and specifically beaten on the head area and was blindfolded for 6 days and transferred to solitary confinement).
7. Adel Ahmed Saleh – Al Daih (tortured and specifically beaten on the head area and was blindfolded for 6 days and transferred to solitary confinement).
8 – Hassan Mohammed Taqi – Abu Saiba.
Maltreatment:
1. Sayed Montadhar Amin -Tubli (in solitary confinement).
2. Ali Al Banna – Jidhafs (handcuffed for 12 hours under the sun).
3. Moosa Abdullah Jaafar – Karana – Sentenced to Death and had his citizenship revoked.
4. Moosa Jafar Al Afya – Shahrakan.
5. Ahmed Abdulrasool – Bilad Al Qadeem (isolation and denial of contact).
6. Hassan Raji Baqqali – Bilad Al Qadeem (deprived of contact for two weeks and isolation in solitary confinement).
7. Khalil Al Saffar – Bilad Al Qadeem (deprived of participation in the funeral of his grandmother).
8. Sayed Salman Al Qallaf – Naim (solitary confinement).
9. Mohammed Abdul Amir – Bilad Al Qadeem (deprived of contact).
10. Mohammed Jawad – Jidhafs (confiscation of personal belongings).
11. Abbas Marhoon – Naim (denial of contact).
12. Ammar Abdulnabi – Naim (denial of contact.
13. Sadiq Al Alwani – Al Musalla (isolation in solitary confinement).
14. Sayed Mohammad Jalal -Tubli (Denial of contact).
15. Hussain Mansoor Eid – Karzakan (denial of contact and confiscation of personal belonignings).
16. Jafar Al Matooq – Al Qurayya (No news about him and is being denied contact and is in isolation).
17. Ali Abdullah Al Zaki – Abu Subai (deprived of contact).
18. Ali Habib Yaqoob – Abu Saiba (deprived of contact).
19. Mohammed Abdul Zahra Al-Shajar – Karbabad (deprived of contact).
20. Mohammed Makki Ahmed – Sanabis (deprived of contact).
21. Ali Habib Yaqoob – Shahrakan (deprived of contact).
22. Ahmed Mohamed Kadhem – Abu Saiba (isolation in solitary confinement).
23. Ayman Naji Salman – Hamala (prevented from family visits and denied contact).
24. Ali Hassan Jawad – Sanabis (denial of contact).
25. Mohammed Al Ojaimi – Al Duraz (No news of him after being transferred to an unknown destination).
26. Hajar Mansoor – A’ali (degrading treatment and denial of contact).
27. Madina Ali – Al Quraya (degrading treatment).
28. Sayed Ali Nizar Al-Musawi – Al Quraya (deprived of participating at the death ceremony of his aunt).
29. Sayed Mahdi Haider Al-Musawi – Al Quraya (deprived of participating at the death ceremony of his aunt)
30. Sayed Mohammed Taleb Al-Musawi – Al Quraya (deprived of participating at the death ceremony of his aunt).
31. Sayed Mohammed Saeed Al-Musawi – Al Quraya (deprived of participating at the death ceremony of his aunt).
Denial of medical treatment:
1. Hassan Ahmed Kadhem – Karana.
2. Sheikh Mirza Al Mahroos – Bilad Al Qadeem.
3. Hashim Mohammed Al-Kuwaiti – Jadhafs.
4. Sadiq Al Banna – Jidhafs (No medical care provided for his dental issue).
5. Osama Al Sagheer – Abu Saiba.
6. Hassan Taqi – Naim.
7. Ali Al Moamen – Sitra.
8. Fawzia Mashallah – Bilad Al Qadeem.
9. Hussain Esam Hussain – Al-Duraz
Denial of education:
1. Ali Mohamed Abdullah – Sar