Report: Systematic Torture in Bahrain

(Beirut / London) 25 June 2020

Embargo – 08:00 London time; Friday 26 June, 2020

Bahrain: A Pattern of Torture – report on the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, 26 June, 2020

On the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, Salam for Democracy and Human Rights (SALAM DHR) decries the persistent and systematic use of torture in Bahrain and deplores government silence over the repeated visit requests lodgedby the Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. SALAM DHR calls for an end to the impunity enjoyed by alleged perpetrators. For survivors of torture and ill treatment, where there is no justice, there is no peace.

Torture survivor and SALAM DHR Legal Advisor, Ebrahim Sarhan, said:

“For all the government’s Economic Visions, its lip service to fulfilling Sustainable Development Goals; all the empty assertions of political normality, this remains a government unable to be honest with its own people. By failing to recognise its torture survivors, the government erodes its own legitimacy. On the the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, 2020, at least commit to recognising us.”

The 18 page report, entitled Systematic violations in Bahrain … a pattern of torture is divided into eight sections. The second examines the unconstitutionality of the practice in Bahrain; followed by a discussion of the total impunity enjoyed by perpetrators of the practice. THe fourth briefly looks at the locations where torture is allged to take place in Bahrain and he fifth, the means for holding officials to account. The penultimate section considers repeated UN recommendations to the government before concluding that the ongoing, state denial of torture; its failure to bring alleged torturers to justice keeps open the wounds of yesterday, forbidding any closure.

The Report

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For more information:

Jawad Fairooz +447449926577 (Arabic, English)

Ebrahim Sarhan +96178889433 (Arabic)

Drewery Dyke +447800989221 (English)

Abbas Taleb +3167679486 (French)