Civil society organizations, including ISR, urge Bahraini authorities to negate all those sentenced to prison for their political opinions, including human rights defenders Abdulhadi Al Khawaja and Abduljalil Al Singas. It called on all countries to request that they be released under certain conditions and ensure guarantees for them in the meantime. Provide life-saving medical care to prevent impending tragedies.
On August 9, 2023, Al Khawaja began a hunger strike along with hundreds of other prisoners demanding better conditions at Jau Rehabilitation and Reform Center. Al Khawaja, co-founder of the Gulf Human Rights Center and the Bahrain Human Rights Center, has been unjustly imprisoned for 12 years.
He was arrested in 2011 for his involvement in peaceful demonstrations during Bahrain’s democracy movement and is currently serving a life sentence in Bahrain. Mr. Al-Khawaja’s health deteriorated significantly during his imprisonment. He has been subjected to severe physical, sexual and psychological torture.
Dr. Abduljalil Al Singas, a Bahraini academic and award-winning human rights defender serving a life sentence in Bahrain, protested the confiscation of his handwritten notes by prison authorities on July 8, 2021. Since then, he has been on a hunger strike without eating solid food.
Hundreds of politically motivated detainees at Bahrain’s Jau Prison are being ordered to eliminate solitary confinement, spend more time outside their cells, pray in groups in the prison mosque, and have face-to-face visits without glass walls. He is leading a hunger strike demanding the abolition of the , access to appropriate medical care and education.
Serious human rights violations in Bahrain have not been sufficiently addressed by the Security Council since the countries issued a joint statement in 2015. Given the risks to the lives and well-being of Bahraini human rights defenders and others wrongly imprisoned in Bahrain, countries need to recommit to this issue. as a matter of urgency.
During HRC54, Bahraini women human rights activists Hajar Mansour and Nadja Yusuf issued a joint statement with the ISHR based on General Discussion Items 4 and 5.
Read and see the statement below.
Agenda Item 4 General Discussion:
My name is Hajar Mansour. I am a former political prisoner in Bahrain. I was subjected to mental and physical torture while in prison.
My son, Saeed Nizar al-Wadaei, is currently in custody, serving an unjust 11-year prison sentence based on coerced confessions obtained under torture.
In 2017, at the age of 18, he was arrested three days before me on politically motivated charges in retaliation against his son-in-law, pursuant to an agreement by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
More than 800 political prisoners went on hunger strike last month. My son was one of them.
The prisoners demanded that authorities end their daily 23-hour solitary confinement, respecting the dignity of prisoners and protesting policies of medical neglect that lead to prisoners’ slow deaths.
I visited him in prison during his hunger strike. Seeing him so thin made my heart clench with pain. After 36 days, the prisoners called off their hunger strike after authorities promised to improve prison conditions. They don’t seem to keep their promises.
Last week, the United Nations Secretary-General listed my son among five Bahrainis who have been subject to retaliation by governments for their communications with the United Nations.
I urge your Council to uphold its obligations to Bahrain’s hundreds of political prisoners and pressure the government for their immediate release.
I emphasize the slogan of political prisoners taken from the words of Imam Ali (peace be upon him). “We have rights. Either we are given rights or we ride on a camel that is hard to ride. And we will.” Persevere no matter how far . ”
Agenda 5 General Discussion:
My name is Nadja Yusuf, a former prisoner of conscience and a victim of torture and assault by the Bahraini authorities.
Today I speak in solidarity with prisoners of conscience in Bahrain.
I focus on one of the victims mentioned in the UN Secretary-General’s report on retaliation for UN involvement.
Hassan Mushaima is Bahrain’s oldest political prisoner. He is over 75 years old. He has endured severe torture since his arrest in 2011 for leading democratic change efforts in my country, Bahrain.
Despite his advanced age, Mushaima is undergoing what he calls a slow death policy due to deliberate neglect of medical care.
This is not the first time this year that Professor Hassan Mushaima has been mentioned in a UN Secretary-General’s report.
His case was brought up last year, the year before that, and again in 2011. His health is deteriorating and the council needs to take immediate action rather than wait until next year for a report to revisit Hassan Mushaima’s case.
We urge you to press Bahrain to:
- Immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners and arbitrarily detained human rights defenders;
- Ensure humane conditions of detention, access to adequate medical care, and protection from mental and physical harm for all prisoners in Bahrain.