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ADHRB Weekly Newsletter #401
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Bahrain

Italian MPs Urge Bahrain’s King Hamad to Release Political Prisoners, Uphold Human Rights in Recent Letter

Several members of the Italian Parliament sent a letter to the King of Bahrain, King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa.The purpose of this letter was for the members of parliament (MPs) to “express [their] deep concerns over the fate of the prisoners of conscience and the human rights defenders currently held in the prisons of the Kingdom of Bahrain.”

The full letter may be viewed here

The letter references “the unjust punishment and ill-treatment of prisoners of conscience,” as well as “the disproportionately high risk of illness” due to the deprivation of “medical attention and personal protective equipment necessary to protect against COVID-19.” They further share their concerns about the lifting of the moratorium on the death penalty, and they condemn the death sentences issued for Mohammed Ramadan and Husain Ali Moosa.

The MPs cite Bahrain’s violations of an individual’s right to freedom of expression and freedom of speech embodied in international law, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the Convention Against Torture (CAT), and the Arab Charter on Human Rights (ACHR). They also include reference to the EU Parliament resolution passed on March 11, 2021, which addresses the cases of prisoners of conscience and human rights defenders currently imprisoned.

Read full article here

Profile in Persecution

Ahmed Jaber Radhi

Ahmed Jaber Radhi is a 24-year-old Bahraini citizen from Jidhafs who used to work as a restaurant accountant before his arrest in August 2018. Wrongfully accused of engaging in terrorist activity despite presenting exculpatory evidence, Ahmed was convicted and sent to Jau Prison to carry out his sentence. There, he contracted COVID-19 as a result of the prison’s inability to contain the outbreak of the virus.

On 8 August 2018, at dawn, riot police and officers in civilian clothing broke into Ahmed’s family house. The officers confiscated Ahmed’s phone and seized the phones of his sister and father before arresting him without stating any reason for his arrest nor presenting an arrest warrant. Soon after his arrest, Ahmed was allowed to call his uncle very briefly to inform him that he was at the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID). After that call, Ahmed’s family did not receive news of him and could not contact him for three weeks.

During those three weeks, CID officers interrogated Ahmed without his lawyer at various locations that he could not recall. The officers tortured, beat, and mistreated him during the interrogation period in an attempt to extract confessions to the charges made against him, but Ahmed did not confess.

Read full article here

GCC in the Wire


- Revealed: Priti Patel's links to Bahrain minister blamed for 'torture' of political prisoners (The Independent)
Priti Patel hosted a meeting with a Bahrain minister blamed for the recent "torture" of political prisoners, triggering claims that she is "whitewashing abuse" in the country

- Protests spread across once-quiet Oman as economy founders (AP News)
Protests over mass layoffs and Oman's poor economy spread Tuesday to cities across the sultanate, underscoring the financial challenge ahead for this nation a decade on from its Arab Spring protests. 

- Google urged to abandon Saudi cloud project (CNN)
Dozens of campaign groups are urging Google to abandon a cloud computing project in Saudi Arabia, saying the company is at risk of being "complicit in future human rights violations."

- UK football fan sues UAE for alleged torture; false imprisonment (Al Jazeera)
A UK football fan filed a lawsuit against six officials in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), claiming he was tortured and falsely imprisoned during a trip to the country in 2019. 

 
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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