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16 Rights Groups Raise Bahrain Human Rights Concerns with Formula One
25 November 2020 – Today, 16 rights groups and trade unions including the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), Human Rights Watch, the International Trade Union Federation and members of the Sport and Rights Alliance sent a joint letter to Formula One (F1) CEO Chase Carey, ahead of the upcoming Bahrain Grand Prix. The letter urges F1 to secure justice for victims of abuses linked to the Bahrain Grand Prix, protect the rights of protesters and enact their human rights policy to ensure their business practices do not contribute to human rights abuses, in light of the “worsening” human rights situation in the country.
The letter emphasises that F1 plays a central role in ‘sportswashing’ the Bahraini government’s human rights abuses and by “increasing F1’s presence in the country at this volatile time” they are “performing invaluable PR for Bahrain’s government and risk further normalising the violation of human rights in the country”.
The letter urges Carey to use his leverage to “secure justice, accountability and compensation for victims of abuses” linked to the Bahrain Grand Prix, including the family of Salah Abbas, who was murdered by security forces on the eve of the 2012 race and Najah Yusuf, who was tortured, sexually assaulted and imprisoned for two years after criticising the Grand Prix on Facebook in 2017. The groups further expressed concern for Najah’s 17-year-old son, Kameel, who faces over 20 years in prison, in what Amnesty International deems a “reprisal against his mother”.
Read the full article here
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Ali Jaafar AlBasri
25-year-old Ali Jaafar AlBasri was a security personnel at a private security company in Bahrain when he was arbitrarily arrested by the Bahraini authorities on 6 November 2019. During his detention, he was subjected to several human rights violations. Ali is currently detained at the Dry Dock Detention Center.
At 3:00 a.m. on 6 November 2019, Police officers and officers from the Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID) forcibly entered Ali’s home without presenting any arrest warrant. They harassed his family members and asked them about Ali’s whereabouts, which they were not aware of since he was at his friend’s house at the time. Officers proceeded to go over to the house of Ali’s friend, where they arrested Ali after hitting him with a police car, thereby breaking his leg. The next day after his arrest, authorities confiscated Ali’s car, and they have yet to return it.
Ali was then transferred to the CID building before being transferred to the interrogation center at Building 15 of Jau Prison on the same day, where he was interrogated. During the interrogation, Ali was tortured by the interrogation CID officers for 15 days while blindfolded, handcuffed, and leg cuffed. He was beaten, electrocuted, and stripped of his clothes, and cold water was poured on him. He also suffered psychological torture and threats. Ali suffered all these torture methods in order to extract a forced confession to preselected charges, and in case he refused to confess officers would inflict more torture on him. Ali was not able to resist the torture, and therefore he gave a forced false confession. During this period, authorities suggested a deal that would free him from prison if he accepts to go with them to arrest people that he knows, but he refused the deal.
Read the full article here
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Dispatch on US and UK involvement in war crimes in Yemen
Since the war began in 2015 coalition forces have regularly violated international humanitarian law through unlawful airstrikes which targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure including mosques, hospitals, schools, homes, and markets, the use of banned cluster munitions, engaging in a pattern of enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention and torture of perceived political opponents and security threats, and the regular blocking of food, fuel, and medical supplies from reaching Houthi controlled areas.
The United States and United Kingdom both offered logistical and intelligence support for the coalition throughout the war. Both countries have been supplying weapons and providing military and diplomatic support to the Saudi-led coalitions. Additionally, both countries have long standing economic ties with Saudi Arabia which might explain the cooperation. The US began its involvement in the conflict in 2015 with the view that the American weapons, training and intelligence would simply assist the Saudis in avoiding more civilian casualties. The UK has been intimately involved in supplying arm to Saudi Arabia despite a court ruling deeming it illegal in the face of continuous human rights violations.
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International Coalition of NGOs Call on the United States to Immediately Halt Proposed Arms Sales to the United Arab Emirates
30 November – 29 arms control and human rights organizations have signed a letter opposing the sale of $23 billion worth of missiles, fighter jets and drones to the United Arab Emirates and asking the U.S. Congress to block the deal.
“We the undersigned non-governmental organizations write in opposition to the United States government’s plans to sell more than $23 billion in advanced weapons systems and munitions to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The planned arms sales to the UAE, a party to the conflicts in Yemen and Libya, would fuel continued civilian harm and further exacerbate these humanitarian crises. Delivery of the sales would undermine U.S. national security interests by fueling instability, violent conflict, and radicalization in the Middle East and North Africa and would also send a signal of impunity for the UAE’s recent conduct, which includes likely violations of international law. We call on Congress to pass the bipartisan resolutions of disapproval to block these sales, and on the Trump administration and President-elect Biden to halt these sales, suspend all conventional arms sales and transfers to the UAE, and end all U.S. support for the war in Yemen.
Read the full article here
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- Jared Kushner to travel to Saudi Arabia, Qatar this week (AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner will travel to Saudi Arabia and Qatar this week as part of negotiations to end a longtime boycott of Qatar.
- Charity says shelling kills 11 civilians in Yemen’s Hodeida (AP)
CAIRO (AP) — Artillery fire killed at least 11 civilians, including four children, near Yemen’s strategic port city of Hodeida amid that country’s grinding war, an international charity said Monday.
- UAE halts new visas to citizens of 13 mostly Muslim states: document (Reuters)
DUBAI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates has stopped issuing new visas to citizens of 13 mostly Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to a document issued by a state-owned business park.
- U.S. arms sales to UAE draw fire from 29 rights groups (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Twenty-nine arms control and human rights organizations have signed a letter opposing the sale of $23 billion worth of missiles, fighter jets and drones to the United Arab Emirates and asking the U.S. Congress to block the deal.
- Saudi Activist Who Fought For Women’s Right to Drive Is Sent to Terrorism Court (New York Times)
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Appearing weak and shaking uncontrollably, one of Saudi Arabia’s most prominent prisoners, the women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul, appeared before a Saudi judge on Wednesday to learn that her case was being transferred to a special court for terrorism and national security crimes, her family said.
- Leadership of U.N. Human Rights Body Becomes Proxy Battle for World Powers (New York Times)
GENEVA — The annual choice of who will steer the United Nations’ top human rights organization is usually done quietly and by consensus. For months, this year’s selection seemed to follow that script.
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