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ADHRB Weekly Newsletter #383
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Bahrain

Open letter to President Biden on Bahrain

Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) Executive Director Husain Abdulla sent a letter to President Joseph Biden on making human rights and democratization as priority of US policy when it comes to US-Bahrain relations. The full letter (PDF version):

Dear Mr. President:

I am writing to extend my most sincere congratulations to you as you assume the office of President.  I encourage you from your very first day in office to review and revise US policy on one of the most pressing and intertwined human right and national security challenges facing the United States, the Kingdom of Bahrain.

I had to leave my home country of Bahrain over twenty years ago, fleeing an oppressive government where freedom of expression and peaceful dissent did not have a place. While I was able to enjoy all the freedoms and benefits of democracy that America offers, my people in Bahrain are still suffering under a brutal dictatorship.

The situation in Bahrain represents a serious and ongoing violation of human rights that should be intolerable to the United States under any circumstances.  However, the political instability created within Bahrain by the systematic, violent, and unceasing repression of its people is also a direct threat to US security interests in the Persian Gulf Region and globally.  Improvements in human rights in Bahrain are directly linked to US security interests and should be pursued as a priority by the Biden Administration, including through multilateral institutions.

Read the full article here
 



16 MEPs Urge Bahrain to Release EU-Bahraini Dual Nationals and End Death Penalty Ahead of Brussels Meeting


25 January 2021 – The European Union should hold Bahrain to their human rights commitments by raising the case of European-Bahraini dual citizens and restore their moratorium on the death penalty, 16 MEPs have urged in an open letter delivered last Friday to EU High Representative Josep Borrell, ahead of his meeting with Bahrain’s Foreign Minister tomorrow.

Read the full letter here.

Danish-Bahraini Abdulhadi Al Khawaja and Swedish-Bahraini Sheikh Mohammed Habib Al Muqdad are serving life sentences for peacefully expressing their right to freedom of expression, assembly and association during Bahrain’s 2011 Arab Spring uprising. Along with other prisoners of conscience like Hassan Mushaima, they have been subjected to torture, mistreatment and systemic denial of medical care.

Since the suppression of the pro-democracy movement in 2011, Bahrain’s government has overseen a severe deterioration in the human rights situation in the country, including a dramatic rise in the use of the death penalty. Six individuals have been executed in Bahrain since 2017, five of which were condemned as arbitrary by the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Agnes Callamard, in 2017 and 2019 respectively. 26 death row inmates currently face imminent execution, nearly half of whom were convicted on the basis of confessions allegedly extracted under torture in cases related to political unrest.

Read the full article here
 



Open letter to Danish Prime Minister to take immediate action to free Abdul-Hadi Al-Khawaja

Dear Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen,

We the undersigned, more than 100 organisations from around the world, are appealing for your assistance to secure the release of prominent human rights defender and dual Danish-Bahraini citizen Abdul-Hadi Al-Khawaja from prison in Bahrain, where he is serving a life sentence for his peaceful political and human rights activities in violation of his right to freedom of expression. As he completes the tenth year of his imprisonment, we appeal to you directly as head of the Government of Denmark to renew and strengthen efforts to ensure his immediate and unconditional release so he can be reunited with his family and receive much needed medical treatment and torture rehabilitation in Denmark.

An internationally-recognised human rights defender, Al-Khawaja is the co-founder of both the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), for which he was also the former President, and he worked as MENA Protection Coordinator for Front Line Defenders from 2008 until early 2011.

He was arrested on 9 April 2011 for his role in organising peaceful protests to defend people’s rights and to demand political reform during the popular movement which began in February 2011. Security forces violently arrested Al-Khawaja, as detailed in a report by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), published in November 2011 at the request of the Bahraini king. It says, “Immediately after the arrest, the detainee received a hard blow to the side of his face, which broke his jaw and knocked him to the ground. He was taken to the Ministry of Interior (MoI) clinic and then the Bahrain Defence Forces (BDF) Hospital where he had major jaw surgery for four broken bones in his face.” Al-Khawaja was subjected to additional severe physical, psychological and sexual torture in detention (as described in the BICI report, as Case No. 8.)

Read the full article here
 


Eight Irish TDs Call for Ireland to Address the Case of Sheikh Zuhair Jasim Mohamed Abbas

Four members of Dáil Éireann–Niall Collins TD, Brendan Howlin TD, Thomas Pringle TD, Joe O’Brien TD–put forward a number of questions to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Coveney TD, concerning the case of Sheikh Zuhair Jasim Mohamed Abbas. Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) welcomes the parliamentary questions and thanks these TDs for their continued advocacy against Bahrain’s human rights abuses.

Deputy Collins asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs “his views on a matter [the case of Sheikh Zuhair Jasim Mohamed Abbas]; and if he will make a statement on the matter.”

Deputy Howlin asked the Minister “if his attention has been drawn to the case of a person [Sheikh Zuhair Jasim Mohamed Abbas]; if this case has been raised with the Bahrain authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter.”

Deputy Pringle asked, “Minister for Foreign Affairs if he has raised the case of a person [Sheikh Zuhair Jasim Mohamed Abbas] in Bahrain either multilaterally or bilaterally with Bahraini Government officials; and if he will make a statement on the matter.”

Deputy O’Brien asked, “the Minister for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the case of a person [Sheikh Zuhair Jasim Mohamed Abbas] who it is alleged has been detained without due process and tortured by the government of Bahrain; if he and his colleagues in the EU Foreign Affairs Council have raised this with Bahraini officials; and if he will make a statement on the matter.”

Read the full article here

 

 

Profile in Persecution


Sheikh Zuhair Jasim Abbas (Ashoor)


Sheikh Zuhair Jasim Abbas, also known as Sheikh Zuhair Ashoor, the opposition Shia cleric, was a 32-year-old teacher in the scholarly Hoza AlSayed AlGharifi for Islamic studies, when he was arbitrarily arrested by Bahraini authorities on 18 July 2013. During his detention and investigation, he was subject to severe torture and to several human rights violations, and recently, he was subjected to enforced disappearance from 10July 2020 to 17 January 2021 during which he was subjected to various forms of torture and harassment as a form of reprisal for his stances and activism calling for the prisoners’ rights. He is currently held in Jau Prison, where he is serving his life sentence.

At around 3:30 p.m. on 18 July 2013, Society police officers, masked officers, and officers from the Ministry of Interior (MOI) raided Sheikh Zuhair’s home without presenting any warrant before discovering that Sheikh Zuhair was not living there. Then, they pointed a pistol to his father’s head and threatened to kill him if he did not tell them about Sheikh Zuhair’s whereabouts. When he refused to tell the officers, they dragged him into a police car. While in the car, the officers received a call that they had found Sheikh Zuhair. MOI cars and the cars of what was known as the community police force surrounded Sheikh Zuhair’s car at the Bahrain Commercial Complex in the Dieh area when he was with his pregnant wife and two children, stopped the car, and masked individuals arrested him without a warrant. Then, they transported him to the Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID), without disclosing the destination to his family, where the interrogations started.

During the interrogation period from 18 July 2013 till 24 August 2013, Sheikh Zuhair was severely tortured on a daily basis without being asked any question, and he was unable to appoint a lawyer. He was severely beaten with water hoses and electrocuted until he fainted, forced to stand up continuously, deprived of sleep for days, and verbally abused. Sheikh Zuhair never knew the case he was accused of while he was being brutally tortured except that he was forced to sign papers while blindfolded. Because of torture, Sheikh Zuhair developed weakness in sight and refraction in vision, and he was not examined by any doctor until 9 months after his arrest. It is believed that Sheikh Zuhair was arrested and tortured because of his peaceful opposition activities. He was also subjected to enforced disappearance during the first three days of the interrogation period at the CID. Three days after his arrest, Sheikh Zuhair was allowed to call his family for the first time. Four days after the arrest, the MOI published his picture with other detainees in newspapers and on social media platforms , saying that they were accused of bombing a car in front of a mosque in Riffa. On 24 August 2013, Sheikh Zuhair was brought before the Public Prosecution Office (PPO), where he was threatened with more torture in case he refused to confess to the charges against him. He was then transferred to Dry Dock Detention Center.

Read the full article here

GCC in the Wire

 

 

Turkey, Saudi Arabia eye improved ties after Gulf crisis ends (Al Jazeera) 

Ankara, Turkey – Two years ago, relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia stood at one of the lowest points in the history of the two regional powers following the murder in Istanbul of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

- Oman bars expatriates from certain jobs as pandemic bites (Al Jazeera)

Oman’s labour ministry has said it will bar expatriates from certain jobs in the private sector, in an attempt to create more jobs for its citizens amid an economic downturn.

- Biden administration suspends some sanctions on Yemen rebels (AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration on Monday suspended some of the terrorism sanctions that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo imposed on Yemen’s Houthi rebels in his waning days in office.

- Court rules on sheikh’s improper influence in FIFA seat vote (AP)

GENEVA (AP) — Olympic powerbroker Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahad al-Sabah did try to improperly influence an election for an Asian woman soccer official to join the FIFA Council, sport’s highest court ruled on Monday.

- Bahraini minister criticises Qatar despite accord to end rift (Reuters)

DUBAI (Reuters) - Qatar has not taken any initiative to solve the problems with Bahrain, despite an agreement to end a rift of more than three years, Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif Al Zayani said on Thursday.

- Saudi Arabia expects 'excellent relations' with Biden administration (Reuters)

LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said on Saturday the kingdom was optimistic that it would have “excellent relations” with the new U.S. administration of President Joe Biden and that it would continue to talk with Washington regarding the Iran nuclear deal.

 
Are you a victim of a human rights abuse in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, or other GCC states?

Document your case with the Special Procedures of the United Nations through 
ADHRB's UN Complaint Program.
Copyright © 2017 ADHRB, All rights reserved.
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