Rare street protests have erupted in Bahrain as a massive hunger strike enters its fifth week, activists say, a faint echo of the uprisings that swept the Gulf kingdom during the Arab Spring that began in 2011. is said to remain.
Inmates at the country’s largest prison have been refusing to eat since August 7, leading to what inmates and relatives claim is a poor environment that includes systematic abuse, medical neglect and limited visitation rights. I’m protesting.
The government denied the allegations and insisted the situation was in line with international standards. Although authorities announced some concessions, including more time for prisoners to spend outdoors, the strike continued for nearly a month.
The government says only 116 prisoners are taking part, but activists say they have recorded more than 800 participants, a significant proportion of the prison population of the small island nation of 1.6 million people. corresponds to a portion. Their collective action spilled over into the streets, with relatives of the prisoners holding scattered demonstrations for two weekends in a row, holding up portraits and marching, demanding their release.
“This strike was carried out from inside the prison to send a clear message to all of Bahrain and the world that we exist and have rights,” he said on Friday in support of his 23-year-old son, Ahmed Al. said Fatima Haroun, who participated in the protest. Arab. She said he was only 15 years old when he was imprisoned on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist organization after the Arab Spring.
Activists say the violence reflects dissatisfaction with and mistrust of the government since the 2011 crackdown, with many Bahrainis still complaining about corruption, sectarian discrimination and rising costs of living. .
Similarly, rare protests have gained momentum in Syria in the past few weeks, where growing economic hardship has boiled over into political demands. These protests also recalled scenes from the Arab Spring uprisings, which were violently suppressed by the government and then turned into long-term wars.
Taken together, these developments demonstrate how difficult it is to eliminate resistance, even in authoritarian states, when people feel they have little to lose.
Although their protests are not large-scale, it is “incredibly important” for Bahrainis to demonstrate and chant political slogans for the first time in years, says a Bahraini exile in Denmark. human rights activist Mariam Al Khawaja said.
“They know what the consequences are. They know what the risks are. And they’re doing it anyway,” she said.
Bahrain, just off the coast of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, is an American ally and home to the US 5th Fleet. A State Department spokesperson said Tuesday that Saudi Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad is scheduled to visit Washington next week.
Although the royal family is a Sunni Muslim, it governs the majority Shiite Muslim population, who have complained of discrimination.
Like other Arab countries such as Tunisia, Egypt and Syria, Bahrain erupted in massive uprisings in 2011, with more than 100,000 people taking to the streets to protest, many calling for an end to the monarchy.
With support from neighboring countries, Bahraini security forces put down the riot, opening fire on demonstrators and arresting thousands. However, sporadic unrest has continued for years, and many Bahrainis continue to express deep dissatisfaction with their situation.
“They are more interested in pleasing the US and Israel than addressing the rights of their own people,” Bahraini activist Fatima Ali said of the government. “They see us as animals that should be caged.”
A visit by Israel’s foreign minister this week has sparked controversy in Saudi Arabia, where many oppose relations with Israel because of its treatment of Palestinians. Ali said her latest visit added “insult to injury” as her hunger strike continues.
At Jau Prison, where the hunger strikers are active, an entire building is filled with young people sentenced to death or life imprisonment after the riot. Many vehemently deny the charges against them and claim their confessions were extracted under torture.
One prisoner said he joined the hunger strike because he saw his friends “leaving the prison as corpses” and felt it was his only option, which was linked to medical neglect and other conditions. It blamed this on “organizational restrictions”. He spoke to The New York Times by phone on condition of anonymity, citing concerns about retaliation.
“We are not going to retreat,” he said. “Our demands are simple and fair, and we are not asking for the impossible.”
The government’s National Communication Center claimed that 116 people are currently participating in the hunger strike, up from up to 124 previously. The report said even this tally was based on inmates’ own declarations and could be an overestimation.
However, the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, a human rights group in London, shared with journalists a list of more than 800 prisoners on hunger strike, compiled by contacting prisoners and their relatives.
Images that appeared to be internal prison records obtained by The Times showed that there were more men on hunger strike in one of the prison buildings than in all government prisons. In the prison he has more than 10 buildings.
Last week, UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani issued a statement saying the office was “deeply concerned for the well-being of those involved.”
Bahrain’s government said that none of the participants required serious treatment or hospitalization, and that all prisoners were “entitled to the same health care provision as the general population.”
But Al-Khawaja was arrested in August after his father, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, a Danish-Bahraini political activist and one of the country’s most prominent prisoners, was refused access to a cardiologist. He said he began a hunger strike for only water on the 9th. . A few days later, he was taken to the intensive care unit, she said.
Since then, Al Khawaja, 62, has taken part in limited strikes and added that when he passes out, he drinks juice and coffee with milk to get back on track. However, the government denied this explanation.
“Mr. Al-Khawaja is not participating in the strike,” the government said.
Haroun said her son had been refused treatment in the past “on the pretext that he was a dangerous prisoner of war” and that a military hospital refused to admit him when he needed treatment for several broken bones.
The government has approved several changes since the strike began, including increasing inmates’ outdoor time from one to two hours each day and adding further education provisions, such as launching a digital library for inmates. said.
A government statement said the country “continues to build on the extensive judicial and prison reforms already implemented in recent years.”
Families of detainees argued that the strike was an inevitable response to poor conditions.
Yousef Ahmed Marzouk said his son Mohamed Yousef, 37, was on a hunger strike “demanding the most basic rights” such as better medical care and permission to pray in the prison mosque. He said he was there.
Al Khawaja, who was previously imprisoned in Bahrain himself, said the hunger strike was an act of desperation.
“Do you know how painful that can be? You know what it does to your body,” she said. “You have to be really nervous and feel like you have no other means of protest.”
Freelance journalists contributed reports from Bahrain.