With the beginning of 2018, the human rights situation in Bahrain continued to deteriorate. 995 serious human rights violations were observed between January 1and January 31, 2018, including arbitrary arrests, house raids, unfair trials, suppression of peaceful protests, and restrictions on freedom of movement, prohibition of Friday prayers, media materials that incite hate speech, enforced disappearance, torture and ill-treatment.
Arbitrary arrests, raids and restrictions on freedom of movement
121 cases of arbitrary arrest, including 6 children, were recorded, climaxing on January 23, 2018 and amounting to 44 unlawful arrests and 138 raids on houses and residential establishments that were carried out without arrest warrants, and in a manner that spreads terror among citizens. In addition, the freedom of movement was violated through the continuation of the security siege on Duraz for 589 days and the imposition of house arrest on the highest religious authority for the Shiite Muslims in Bahrain, Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim, for 252 days without a judicial order or administrative decision.
On January31, 2018, Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim was transferred to the hospital after a13-day deliberate delay by the authorities, as he was scheduled for surgery on January 18, 2018, therefore his rights to treatment and to freedom of movement were violated.
Meanwhile, the security authorities continued to violate freedom of religion and belief by banning Friday prayers at Duraz for 4 times in January, bringing the number to81 preventions since 2016. In addition, 200Bahraini citizens have been accused or arrested in the Public Prosecution and presented to the Bahraini judiciary for reasons relating to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
Hate speech: 342 media materials
342 media materials and messages that incite or help to incite hatred against human rights defenders, political activists and Bahraini citizens were observed in January. Those materials are divided into 89 media articles published in the official press and 253 materials published on social media by users that include official and media figures, such as Assistant Undersecretary for Information and Follow-up at the Prime Minister's Court, Ibrahim Al-Dosari, Ministry of Information Affairs’ adviser, Sawsan Al-Shaer, former MP Mohammed Khaled, and journalists Faisal Al-Sheikh, Farid Hassan, Mona Mutawa and SaeedAl-Hamad.
The media materials inciting hatred published in local press are as follows: 18 articlesin the Bahraini Al-Ayam newspaper, 25 articles in Akhbar Al-Khaleej newspaper, 13articles in the Bahraini Al-Bilad newspaper, and 33 articles in the Bahraini Al-Watan newspaper.
Torture, ill-treatment, enforced disappearance and destruction of property
18 cases of torture and ill-treatment, which climaxed on January 14, 2018, were observed. The cases include four women and eight children – one of them an infant – who were subjected to ill-treatment while attempting to enter the sieged area of Duraz. In addition, three children from Buri were also subjected to ill-treatment. The detained child, Sayed Hadi Ali Ne'ma from Iskan Aali and detainee Ammar Abdul Ghani from Al-Daih were subjected to torture. Moreover, the right to treatment and health care of Hasan Mushaima, Secretary General of the Movement for Civil Liberties and Democracy (HAQ), was violated. Moreover, 2 cases of destruction of property were observed on January 24 and January 27, 2018. Also, 17 cases of enforced disappearance of Bahraini citizens were observed, including Ali Hussein Jassem who disappeared for 45 days, Salman Ismail who disappeared for 40 days, Hussain Humaid Madan who disappeared for 28 days, Mustafa Bahr who disappeared for 27 days, Abbas Rahma who disappeared for 20 days and Mansour Al-Dulabi who disappeared for 20days.The cases of enforced disappearances were regionally distributed as follows:10 cases from Duraz, 3 cases from Nuwaidrat, and 1 case from each of Manama, Abu Saiba, Bilad Al-Qadeem, and Barbar.
Unfair trials
In addition, 77 Bahraini citizens were handed arbitrary sentences, which climaxed on the 24th and 29th of January, 2018, amounting to 24 cases. The total arbitrary sentences amounted to the following: 679 years of imprisonment, 3 years of imprisonment suspended for one year term, total fines of US $268,000, 39 sentences of revoking nationalities, and 10 sentences of deporting citizens whose nationalities were revoked, four of them were deported before January1, 2018. In addition, the death sentence against Maher Al-Khabaz was upheld, even though four UN experts issued a report saying that he was subjected to torture and ill-treatment. 2 death sentences were issued against Ali Al-Arab and Ahmad Al- Mullali. Also, among those who were arbitrarily imprisoned are 4 women.
The trial hearings, which violate the freedom of political action of Bahraini opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman, as well as two former MPs of the Al-Wefaq parliamentary bloc, Sheikh Hassan Sultan and Ali Al-Aswad, continued. The fourth hearing was held on January 4, 2018 and the fifth hearing on January 25, 2018. In the fifth hearing, Sheikh Ali Salman emphasized that the audio recordings which were used as indictments for the charge of spying for Qatar are cut in a way that distorted their contents.
On January 16, 2018, Bahrain's Court of Cassation upheld a two-year prison sentence against Nabeel Rajab, head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and Deputy Secretary-General of the International Federation for Human Rights. A statement by the Bahrain Center for Human Rights said, “We are very worried about Nabeel's safety and well-being,” adding, “Authorities should release him immediately, drop the charges against him, and investigate thoroughly his possible ill-treatment in detention.”
Appeals hearing sat the military judiciary for 17 civilians and one soldier continued to be held, in which civilian victims were tortured and ill-treated. Three appeals hearings were held on January 10, 14 and 31, 2018, and the case was reserved until February21, 2018 without investigating the torture complaints which include 11violations: torture by electric shock, enforced disappearance, sleep and bathing deprivation, severe beatings and solitary confinement. On December 25, 2017, the military court sentenced five civilians and one soldier to death in this case, including human rights activist and head of Liberties and Human Rights Department at Al-Wefaq Society, Mohammed Al-Motaghawi, and the personal escort of Sheikh Isa Qassim, communications engineer Sayed Alawi Hussein.
YNG/PR
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