23 Aug 18 | Bahrain, Bahrain Letters, Campaigns -- Featured, Statements
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Dear Your Majesty,
My name is Ali Mushaima, and I am writing to ask Your Majesty to help me save the life of my 70-year-old father, Hassan Mushaima, who is now paying a harsh price for demanding human rights and democratic change in Bahrain in 2011.
The deep relations between Buckingham Palace and its Bahraini counterpart have been celebrated on many occasions. Your Majesty has now played host to King Hamad of Bahrain at the Royal Windsor Horse Show for several years, even offering him the privilege of a seat next to Your Majesty during the event. Last year, Your Majesty gifted King Hamad a three-year-old Arabian stallion, Hamdani Ra’ad, thereby publicly declaring the strength of your personal relationship with the Bahraini Royal family. I am sure that your gift is now receiving the best possible care in Bahrain; regrettably, this is not a luxury afforded to political prisoners. My father is not even entitled to enjoy his basic human rights while he is unfairly rotting in infamous Jau Prison.
The total indifference my father’s case has received from both the Bahraini Government and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has left me with no choice but to follow my father’s firm commitment to peaceful protest. Today, I am sitting outside the Bahraini Embassy in Belgrave Square, only half a mile away from Buckingham Palace, preparing myself to enter the 21st day of my hunger strike to protest his inhumane treatment.
I start each day by walking to Victoria Station to bathe, before returning to the site of my protest which, so far, has done little to improve my father’s prison condition. After 20 days, I am deeply disappointed that my simple requests have fallen on deaf ears. Life imprisonment is not considered cruel enough by those who seek to silence my father, as it appears that the Bahraini government deem the dignity and well-being of a human less worthy than that of a horse.
The Bahraini authorities are now slowly but deliberately killing him by denying him access to vital medical care. My father suffers a number of serious chronic illnesses, including erratic blood pressure and diabetes, and is also a survivor of lymphoma cancer. On a daily basis, he is required to take a variety of medications to stabilise these conditions. Without them, his life is at risk. Since 2016, however, the government has prevented him from seeing an oncologist to determine whether his lymphoma cancer has returned, despite the need for screenings every six months.
These life-threatening measures add to the humiliation my father is constantly subjected to. My father has not seen his family since February 2017, as authorities have punished political prisoners specifically by imposing further degrading restrictions on healthcare, family visits and access to books. Political prisoners are forcibly chained and shackled if they want to see their beloved ones. My father, however, refused to accept these demeaning conditions.
My doctor has expressed serious concerns about my considerable weight loss. Nonetheless, my frustrations have led me to explore more extreme avenues: I will go on a full hunger strike by sacrificing my intake of vital sugars (through juice), despite the risks this entails for my own health, if the Bahraini authorities do not meet my demands by next week.
This week I will be celebrating Eid in Belgrave Square rather than at home, with my beloved wife and 4-months-old daughter. While I will only be denied the comfort of home on this special day, at least I will be celebrating as a free man. My father, instead, is being forced to spend yet another Eid behind bars and separated from his family, who he has not seen for over 18 months, a basic right that seems to have become a privilege.
I would like to ask Your Majesty to use the influence and strong friendship with the King of Bahrain to help me save my father. All I ask for is for him to be treated humanely, including access to adequate medical treatment, books, and family visitation without subjecting him to humiliating measures.
To end, I hope Your Majesty makes it clear to their Bahraini King that the rights and dignity of a human being are non-negotiable, and that the United Kingdom’s strong commitment to these principles goes far beyond historical ties and so will not be compromised.
Your Sincerely,
Ali Mushaima
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20 Aug 18 | Bahrain, Bahrain Statements, Campaigns -- Featured, Statements
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”102260″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_column_text]As Hassan Mushaima, a septuagenarian prisoner of conscience serving a life sentence in Bahrain, continues to face illegal restrictions on his access to medical care, international NGOs call for full and unrestricted access to medical care in detention for all prisoners of conscience. Our organisations raise deep concerns regarding the inefficacy of Bahrain’s human rights mechanisms in addressing Mushaima’s condition.
Mushaima suffers from a series of chronic medical conditions, including gout, diabetes and erratic blood pressure. He is also a former lymphoma cancer patient. He requires over 15 different types of medication to help with these conditions but has faced restricted access to his medicine. Additionally, his cancer was reportedly in remission as of late 2016, but prison authorities have consistently constrained his access to the regular screenings that he requires to ensure that it has not returned. He also faces restrictive conditions on family visits, with the result that he has not been able to meet with his family since February 2017. While the authorities have recently allowed Mushaima to receive his medication following initial international pressure around his case, they continue to withhold his access to an endocrinologist for his diabetes treatment and cancer screenings. Mushaima and other high profile prisoners of conscience, including Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award winner Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award nominee Dr. Abduljalil Al-Singace, have also reported that, since October 2017, prison authorities have confiscated all books, including religious books, papers, and writing materials.
The Bahraini government’s illegal restrictions on healthcare violate international detention standards, and prisoners of conscience have been singled out for mistreatment. Prison authorities force prisoners of conscience, including the elderly Mushaima and Dr. Al-Singace, to be strip-searched, chained, shackled, and marched to medical facilities if they want to attend medical appointments. They must face this treatment when attending external appointments, and when transiting within the prison to the internal medical facilities, which they refuse to do. There is no security justification for this treatment, as Mushaima and al-Singace have never presented any security risks in detention, nor posed any flight risk. This treatment is therefore interpreted by the prisoners, and by our organisations, to be both arbitrary and punitive, with the intention to humiliate and degrade prisoners of conscience. Such treatment contravenes the United Nations (UN) Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, also known as the Mandela Rules.
On 7 August, Bahrain’s National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR) released a statement regarding the health conditions of Hassan Mushaima, yet this statement was made without any direct investigation of his condition or consultation with him in prison. The NIHR’s assertions in their statement are misleading and incomplete, and they fail to address core concerns directly raised with the Institution. The statement declares that Mushaima has voluntarily declined medical services to be provided to him and has refused to attend six of his medical appointments in the last six months. What the statement neglects to mention is the degrading treatment Mushaima has endured in order to gain access to medical care.
In choosing to omit any reference to core concerns raised in complaints to the NIHR, including the use of punitive shackling, we in the international human rights community view the Institution’s statement as a clear attempt to obfuscate prison authorities’ degrading treatment of prisoners. We believe this does not represent a good faith effort to effectively address the concerns raised by international human rights groups, but rather appears to be yet another effort to whitewash human rights abuses perpetrated against Mushaima and other prisoners of conscience.
More broadly, Bahrain’s oversight bodies, including the NIHR and the Ministry of Interior Ombudsman, continually contribute to a pervasive culture of impunity in Bahrain through their failure to independently carry out their mandates. While a number of the undersigned organisations continue to present cases to these institutions, we remain seriously concerned over past instances of reprisals and intimidation, as well as false or misleading reporting that serves to conceal human rights abuses by the authorities. Through these actions, these human rights bodies have demonstrated a clear lack of independence and have failed to effectively seek accountability or to act in the best interest of victims.
A number of organisations have expressed these concerns. In July 2018 the UN Human Rights Committee found that Bahrain is failing to meet its treaty obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, specifically noting that the NIHR “lacks sufficient independence to perform its functions” and voicing concerns about “the lack of information on complaints received and investigations carried out in response to these complaints.” Additionally, the UN Committee against Torture in its 2017 State Review of Bahrain, as well as the European Parliament in an urgency resolution earlier this summer, expressed further alarm over the partiality and inefficacy of the NIHR.
The Bahraini human rights mechanisms have largely failed to properly address concerns raised on behalf of Hassan Mushaima, and his life remains at risk. Because of this, his son, Ali Mushaima, is on his 20th day of a hunger strike outside of Bahrain’s Embassy in London. In the early hours of 12 August, foamy dirty liquid was thrown on Ali Mushaima from the embassy’s balcony, in what appears to be an attempt to intimidate him and force him to leave the premises. Undeterred, he continues his protest demanding Bahraini authorities immediately provide Hassan Mushaima with unfettered access to medication and treatment, as well as for an end to restrictions on family visits and the return of confiscated books and reading materials.
We in the international human rights community call on the Bahraini government to establish truly independent and credible human rights mechanisms that are fully empowered to carry out their mandates and appropriately address human rights violations and abuses. We also call on the Bahraini authorities to lift illegal restrictions on prisoners, provide Mushaima and other prisoners of conscience with adequate medical care, and ultimately ensure his release.
Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB)
Amnesty International
ARTICLE 19
Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD)
European Center for Democracy and Human Rights (ECDHR)
Global Rights Watch
Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)
Index on Censorship
PEN International
Rafto Foundation for Human Rights[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”12″ style=”load-more” items_per_page=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1534691207631-dfa3422d-2ad0-9″ taxonomies=”716″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
15 Aug 18 | Bahrain, Bahrain News, Middle East and North Africa, News and features, Statements
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Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab (Photo: The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy)
The United Nations (UN) Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has issued a formal decision declaring Bahrain’s imprisonment of human rights defender Nabeel Rajab unlawful. Rajab – who was arrested on 13 June 2016 and later sentenced to a total of seven years in prison for tweets and media appearances – is arbitrarily detained under eight articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and seven articles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, according to the Working Group. It finds that Rajab should never have been prosecuted and that Bahraini authorities employed “vague and overly broad” legal provisions to target him for his “political views and convictions.” His detention, therefore, constitutes two different categories of arbitrary detention under the Working Group’s mandate, in that it contravenes his rights to freedom of opinion and expression, and it discriminates against him as a human rights defender.
“Our friend Nabeel has been in detention for more than two years,” said Index on Censorship chief executive Jodie Ginsberg. “Bahrain should release him immediately and pay compensation as urged by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. We hope that these findings will also encourage the UK government to do more to encourage its ally Bahrain to uphold its international human rights obligations.”
Bahrain is urged to immediately and unconditionally release Rajab — a 2012 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award winner — from custody and “accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations.” Moreover, the Working Group concludes that Bahrain’s consistent pattern of arbitrary detention against human rights defenders, activists, religious leaders, and other civil society actors may be approaching crimes against humanity.
Please find the Working Group’s key observations below:
· “Mr. Rajab has been arrested, detained, prosecuted and imprisoned for allegedly spreading false news abroad which damages the national interest and for allegedly spreading false rumours in wartime, insulting governing authorities and insulting a foreign country — pursuant to articles 133, 134, 215 and 216 of the Penal Code. . . these provisions of the Penal Code are so vague and overly broad that they could, as in the present case, result in penalties being imposed on individuals who had merely exercised their rights under international law.”
· “Given its finding that the deprivation of liberty of Mr. Rajab is arbitrary under category II … no such trial of Mr. Rajab should have taken place or take place in the future.”
· “The Working Group cannot help but notice that Mr. Rajab’s political views and convictions are clearly at the centre of the present case and that the authorities have displayed an attitude towards him that can only be characterised as discriminatory; indeed, he has been the target of persecution, including deprivation of liberty, for many years and there is no other explanation for this except that he is exercising his right to express such views and convictions.”
· “The deprivation of liberty of Nabeel Ahmed Abdulrasool Rajab, being in contravention of … the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and … the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, is arbitrary.”
· “The Working Group considers that … the appropriate remedy would be to release Mr. Rajab immediately and accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law.”
· “The present case is one of several brought before the Working Group in the past five years concerning the arbitrary deprivation of liberty of persons in Bahrain . . . under certain circumstances, widespread or systematic imprisonment or other severe deprivation of liberty in violation of the rules of international law may constitute crimes against humanity.”
Commenting, Husain Abdulla, Executive Director of Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB): “This is a landmark decision that clearly indicts Bahrain’s systematic and widespread arbitrary detention of activists like Nabeel Rajab for exercising their right to free expression. The Bahraini government must immediately heed the UN’s call to release Rajab and compensate him for the last two years he’s spent illegally languishing in prison. As the UN’s findings rightly suggest, this is not just a crime against a brave human rights defender, but part of Bahrain’s wider crimes against humanity.”
Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Director of Advocacy for the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD): “The UN has now unequivocally found that Bahrain is arbitrarily detaining Nabeel Rajab in violation of numerous international legal standards – these vital findings cannot be ignored. It is now incumbent on Bahrain’s allies like the United Kingdom, which has so far failed to address Rajab’s case, to publicly back the UN’s demands for his unconditional release. Anything short of that is a tacit endorsement Bahrain’s patently criminal behaviour.”
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21 Jun 18 | Bahrain, Bahrain News, News and features
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Sheikh Ali Salman
21 June 2018 – Bahrain’s High Criminal Court acquitted the leader of Bahrain’s dissolved opposition party Al-Wefaq, Sheikh Ali Salman, of politically motivated charges related to espionage.
The verdict marked the end of a long, flawed trial. Sheikh Salman was acquitted alongside his two co-defendants and leading figures in the Al-Wefaq party, Sheikh Hassan Ali Juma Sultan and Ali Mahdi Ali Al-Aswad. Sheikh Salman’s co-defendants were tried in absentia.
Sheikh Salman is currently serving a four year sentence in Jau Prison in relation to another freedom of expression case.
Commenting, BIRD’s Director of Advocacy, Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei: “This case should never have been initiated in the first place: Sheikh Ali Salman had been used as a pawn in Bahrain’s game of power politics. Despite his acquittal, Sheikh Salman will continue to languish in Jau Prison for exercising his right to freedom of expression. His conviction must be overturned and he must be released immediately.”
Background Information: The Qatari Case
Timeline of Events According to Bahrain’s Public Prosecution
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August 2017 – Bahrain’s state television broadcasted an audio recording of a phone call between Sheikh Salman and the then Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani. This event triggered Sheikh Salman’s prosecution.
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1 November 2017 – Sheikh Salman was summoned by the Public Prosecution and charged undermining the “political, economic position and national interests with the purpose of overthrowing the regime” in Bahrain. He had been accused of maintaining intelligence contacts with Qatar. More specifically, his allegations included revealing national defence secrets and accepting financial sums from a foreign country, namely Qatar.
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12 November 2017 – The Public Prosecution referred the case to the High Criminal Court.
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24 April 2018 – The Public Prosecution stated that the case was postponed to 21 June for sentencing.
The Qatari Mediation as Referenced by the 2011 BICI Report
Paragraph 527 of the 2011 report by Bahrain’s Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), cited opposition sources suggested that the then Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani, could act as the sponsor of a proposed United States initiative. Opposition sources also indicated that the State of Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, attempted to mediate between the Bahraini Government and opposition parties in the following days, and that this initiative was accepted by the opposition but rejected by the Government.
However, the mediating role of Qatar never arose as an issue before the Qatari crisis of 2017.
Background Information: Freedom of Expression Case
Sheikh Salman is currently imprisoned in Jau Prison as a result of a separate conviction related to speeches he delivered in 2014 against parliamentary elections that his party boycotted. Some of Sheikh Salman’s charged included publicly inciting hatred, civil disobedience and for promoting change within the ruling government. He was initially sentenced to four years in June 2015, and increased to nine-year prison sentence by the appeal court and then reduced back to four years on 3 April 2017 by the highest court, In reality he was convicted in relation to peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression, following a grossly unfair trial.
Early last year, Sheikh Salman was among the 12 opposition activists and human rights defenders who were subjected to degrading treatment in Jau Prison. Since then, he has been denied the right to family visitations and access to books.
International Responses
United Nations
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In February 2015, five UN experts expressed concern for the arrest and detention of Sheikh Salman, and called for his release.
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In September 2015, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) officially declared Sheikh Salman to be arbitrarily detained. The WGAD cited both freedom of expression and due process concerns, requested for his immediate release and that he receive his enforceable right to compensation.
United Kingdom (UK)
On 15 June 2018, in response to a parliamentary question on Sheikh Salman’s case, UK MENA Minister Alistair Burt merely stated that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office had “raised the case at a senior level with the Government of Bahrain”. The Minister, however, has failed to publicly condemn the charges.
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