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18 Rights Groups Urge US President-Elect Joseph Biden to Ensure the Return of Democracy and Human Rights to the Center of American Foreign Policy in Bahrain
On 16 December 2020, 18 human rights groups including Americans for Democracy and Human Rights (ADHRB), the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), and Freedom House have written to the president-elect of the United States, Joseph Biden, congratulating him on his election and urging him to “ensure the return of democracy and human rights as the center of American foreign policy” amidst the deteriorating political situation in Bahrain.
Read the letter HERE
The letter presents the systemic attack on human rights defenders which has only worsened since Bahrain outlawed all political opposition parties in 2017. It highlights the cases of unjustly imprisoned opposition leaders and HRDs who serve lengthy sentences in overcrowded and unsanitary prisons, suffer torture and ill-treatment, and are “punitively denied adequate medical care”. Signatories highlighted the heightened vulnerability of “aging political leaders who suffer underlying health conditions”, such as the leader of the political opposition Mr. Hasan Mushaima, amidst the outbreak of Coronavirus.
Signatories also document the “crackdown on civic and press freedoms” where repressive cybercrime legislation is used to target civil society figures. Between June 2018 and May 2019, at least 21 individuals were arrested, detained, or prosecuted for online activity, which even includes the following accounts “deemed malicious by the government”. There have been more instances of arbitrary attention since the start of the pandemic, whereby the government outlawed criticism of its policy. Even in prison, political prisoners face harassment for speaking up against the government’s insufficient measures with regards to the pandemic in prison, such as journalist Mahmoud Al-Jaziri who was placed in solitary confinement.
Read the full article here
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Mohamed AbdulHadi AlBaqali
Mohamed AbdulHadi AlBaqali was a 23-year-old Medical Laboratory Technician at a private laboratory when he was arbitrarily arrested by Bahraini authorities on 6 November 2019. During his detention, he was subjected to several human rights violations. Mohamed is currently detained in Jau Prison.
At 2 a.m. on 6 November 2019, officers in military clothing, riot police officers, Commandos officers, army personnel, and mask plain clothed officers entered the home of Mohamed’s family after ringing the doorbell. Then, they searched the home without presenting any arrest warrant, but Mohamed was not there at that moment. They waited for him outside the home and arrested him near it once he arrived. Then, they entered the home, gave the keys of Mohamed’s car to his family, and searched his room again.
One day after his arrest, Mohamed was able to make a short call with his family for less than a minute, only telling them that he is at the Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID). Two days after Mohamed’s arrest, officers came back to his family’s house and searched his room all over again. Three days after the arrest, the Ministry of Interior issued an announcement on social media declaring the arrest of a group intending to carry out actions that harm the country, in a pre-emptive security operation. His family assumed he was part of this arrested group.
Read the full article here
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European involvement in the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen
While the US is considered the biggest supporter of the Saudi-led war in Yemen they are far from the only western actor involved in supplying arms and support to the coalition despite their intimate knowledge of the extremely high civilian casualties and deliberate tactics employed by the coalition to starve Yemen into submission. France, Spain, Italy and Germany have all supplied weapons, logistical support, and training, to varying degrees, to the Saudi led coalition and are no less guilty than the US or UK for fueling, enabling, and supporting a war that has led to the worst humanitarian crisis in modern history.
France
French involvement in the ongoing war in Yemen is so extensive it would be difficult to argue that they are not co-belligerents. The French government is well aware of this fact and have done all they can to downplay their involvement in crimes against humanity. This is supported by the fact that the French government was caught in a lie, they claimed that French weapons sold to coalition members were only being used against armed combatants despite the leak of a classified French Military Intelligence (DRM) report that detailed the use of French weapons by Saudi Arabia and the UAE to massacre civilians. Despite mounting criticism of the French government for its involvement in the war the population of France is largely unaware of France’s involvement and the French government has continued to sign arms deals to sell state of the art equipment to Saudi Arabia and the UAE and has continued to train and logistically support Saudi troops.
Read the full article here
Loujain AlHathloul Sentenced to 5 Years and 8 Months in Prison for her Activism by the Specialized Criminal Court in Saudi Arabia
28 Dec 2020 – After 958 days in detention, a majority of which was spent in pre-trial detention, Loujain AlHathloul a leading Saudi women’s rights activist was sentenced to 5 years and 8 months in prison in court today by the Specialised Criminal Court (terrorism court). The sentence includes a suspension of 2 years and 10 months in addition to the time already served (since May 2018) which would see Loujain’s release in approximately two months. Loujain is also required to serve three years of probation during which time she could be arrested for any perceived illegal activity. She will also be placed on a 5-year travel ban.
Loujain AlHathloul was charged with terrorism and labeled a traitor after she and other Saudi Activists were forcibly imprisoned after the driving ban was lifted by the Saudi Kingdom in May 2018. Loujain was one of the leaders of the Women2Drive campaign and fought for reforms on multiple fronts in Saudi Arabia. She was one of the first women to stand for elections in Saudi Arabia in 2015 – the first year that women were allowed both to vote and stand for elections. Loujain was working with other activists to open the first shelter for women fleeing domestic violence and she led the efforts to end male guardianship in the Saudi Kingdom.
The Saudi authorities instead of recognising Loujain and other activists for their efforts in pushing for reforms labeled them as traitors in a public campaign without any evidence in May 2018. During her time in prison, Loujain has been subjected to multiple forms of torture to include waterboarding, flogging, electrocution and sexual assault. Loujain has also endured two hunger strikes and psychological torture, as a result, leaving her in weakened health.
Read the full article here
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- Gulf leaders, Kushner, converge on Saudi Arabia for crisis talks (France 24)
Gulf leaders flew to Saudi Arabia Tuesday for a summit that could yield more breakthroughs in a regional crisis, after Riyadh re-opened its borders to Doha despite lingering enmity between the neighbours.
- Yemen’s PM says airport attack aimed to ‘eliminate’ Cabinet (AP)
CAIRO (AP) — Yemen’s prime minister on Saturday said that a missile attack on the airport in Aden was meant “to eliminate” the country’s new government as it arrived in the key southern city — a daring assault which he blamed on Iran-backed rebels.
- U.N. envoy plans trip to Yemen and Saudi Arabia after Aden attack (Reuters)
GENEVA (Reuters) - U.N. Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths will visit Yemen and Saudi Arabia in the next few days to meet with the Yemeni president and senior Saudi officials following an attack on Aden airport last week, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
- U.S. State Department approves $4.2 billion in potential arms sales to Kuwait - Pentagon (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department has approved the potential sale to Kuwait of Apache helicopters and spare parts for the Patriot missile system in two separate deals that could have a value of $4.2 billion, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
- Saudi Arabia Will Reopen Borders With Qatar, Easing a Regional Rift (New York Times)
CAIRO — After a rift that has fractured the Arab world and tested American diplomacy for more than three years, Saudi Arabia agreed to reopen its borders and airspace to Qatar on Monday night after boycotting it since 2017, Kuwaiti, Qatari and American officials said Monday.
- Yemen Airport Is Attacked as New Government Arrives (New York Times)
AL MUKALLA, Yemen — An attack on an airport in Aden, Yemen, killed at least 20 civilians and wounded dozens more on Wednesday just as a plane carrying members of the country’s newly formed government cabinet was arriving, the Yemeni health minister’s office said.
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