Ebrahim Sharif still remembers seeing bloodstains on the walls of the military prison where he was imprisoned shortly after demonstrating during the 2011 Arab Spring protests in Bahrain.
The then-general secretary of the National Association for Democratic Action (Waad), the largest left-wing party in the Gulf, was rounded up, along with other protest leaders at the time, tried in a military court and imprisoned.
“We were severely tortured,” Sharif told Al Jazeera, detailing the beatings and sexual harassment he suffered, as well as the electrocution of some of his colleagues.
Immediately after an independent investigation was conducted, opposition leaders and other participants in the mass pro-democracy movement were transferred to private prisons, and only then did the torture stop, he said.
Sharif said conditions in these prisons have improved significantly over the past few years, with inmates now able to leave their cells during the day to pray in mosques, use the library and play soccer outdoors. It was completed.
But he said the situation had worsened since the outbreak of violence in 2015.
Nearly a decade later, prisoners – many of whom have been languishing in prison since 2011 – are kept in solitary confinement for up to 23 hours a day, denied medical treatment and denied education, according to London-based Bahrain. He says he can’t. Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD).
The group says some are being held in solitary confinement.
As a result of years of deteriorating conditions, more than 800 prisoners have been on the largest hunger strike in Bahrain’s history since early August, with many of the striking political prisoners being held at the Jau Reform and Rehabilitation Center, the country’s largest prison. ing.
Families of prisoners have also taken to the streets to protest demanding the release of their loved ones.
On Monday, 22 days into the hunger strike, Bahraini authorities met with advocacy groups to discuss reforms. But inmates say these proposals do little to address their concerns and vow to continue their protests.
“Outrage at this injustice [no longer] The problem lies beyond the prison walls. This is now an issue on the streets of Bahrain,” BIRD advocacy director Saeed Ahmed Alwadai told Al Jazeera.
On Thursday, BIRD acknowledged that the hunger strike would continue and that prisoners had rejected the government’s reform proposals.
“Slow Murder”
Mr. Sharif was lucky to stay out of prison for more than five and a half years, but some have been sentenced to life in prison.
Among them is Nobel Peace Prize nominee Abdulhadi Al Khawaja, whom Alwaday calls the “godfather” of the Bahrain human rights movement.
“Denying medical care is slow murder,” Abdulhadi’s daughter Maryam al-Khawaja, who now lives in Denmark, told Al Jazeera. “Yes, the hunger strike puts his father at higher risk of a heart attack. But he was already at risk because he had been denied access to a cardiologist.”
Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja is no stranger to hunger strikes, with his longest hunger strike lasting 110 days in 2012.
But Mariam now says she won’t live much longer because of her health conditions, including heart arrhythmia, glaucoma and chronic pain from a metal plate in her jaw caused by repeated beatings by prison authorities. Among many other issues.
Continuing momentum
Since the strike began on August 7, the protests have gained momentum and the number of hunger strikers has doubled, according to al-Wadai.
A total of 804 prisoners are currently participating, according to a list of hunger strike participants compiled by BIRD and reviewed by Al Jazeera.
A meeting between the government and advocacy groups on Monday did little to quell the hunger strike.
Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa met with advocates, including the director of the National Institute for Human Rights and the chairman of the Commission on the Rights of Prisoners and Detainees, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement.
The meeting discussed health services for prisoners, a review of the current visitation system, and increasing the daily allotted outdoor time from one to two hours.
Mr. Al Khalifa also emphasized that “the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Education continue to cooperate in providing educational programs and services to prisoners and facilitating the completion of their studies at all levels.”
But Alwadai said the talks were “too little, too late” and the government still had failed to concede on the prisoners’ core demands.
“Based on conversations with prisoners after the Home Office statement, it is clear that the hunger strike will continue until the government addresses their concerns seriously and in good faith,” he said. “So far, they have not taken any of the striking prisoners’ core demands seriously.”
“The government should not underestimate the vulnerable condition of prisoners and the anger in the streets. If a prisoner dies, the situation will spiral out of control,” al-Wadei added.
At the time of publication, Bahraini authorities had not responded to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on the allegations of torture and denial of medical treatment to prisoners.
pardon for prisoners
The strike has drawn concern from Bahrain’s ally the United States, with a U.S. State Department spokesperson saying earlier this month that it was “aware of and concerned by reports of this hunger strike.”
However, Maryam Al Khawaja said Bahrain’s Western allies, including the United States, have long ignored human rights abuses in the country, supported Gulf states and allowed them to occur.
“If…the government hadn’t had the kind of support it’s getting from Western countries, we wouldn’t be here now. And that’s largely because of avoiding real international responsibility for the crimes they committed. “It looks like it’s done,” she said.
Mariam still remembers when her father was arrested and beaten unconscious in front of her and her family in 2011.
The violence occurred while the al-Khawaja family was still living in Bahrain, having returned to the country in 2001 after a period of exile in Denmark.
They were only able to return at that time because the Bahrain government issued an amnesty, releasing all prisoners of war, which began the return of many exiles.
Mariam, who was herself detained during her last attempt to visit Bahrain in 2014 and was released after international pressure, wants another amnesty for her father and other prisoners.
Otherwise, she fears he might die in prison.
She said it was her father’s ordeal and lifelong human rights work that inspired her to become a human rights activist, and it was a similar story for many others in the region who met her father. .
“I have met people from the Gulf who said they wanted to go into human rights because of my father, because they met my father and he inspired them,” Mariam said. .
Mr. Sharif, who at one point shared a cell with the senior Mr. al-Khawaja and shared his concern that prisoners on hunger strike could die, expressed his frustration at the injustices he had endured. I am not afraid to continue speaking out.
“They have a choice: either put me in jail or let me speak my mind. They don’t want me in jail, so I’m speaking as freely as I am.” . [can],” He said.