Photo : A solidarity protest with the 20 Prisoners

Date: 26th Feb 2013 The Bahrain Center for Human Rights expresses its deep concern about the continuous use of the judicial system as a tool to silence dissidents and activists. The BCHR documented a case concerning 20 people, four of them minors, from Sitra in Bahrain who were arrested last year on 15th February 2012. Police arrested them from two houses following multiple house raids. One of the houses raided was in the village of Mehazza and the other was in the village of Sufala. During the violent house raids there were no arrest warrants presented. The 20 prisoners have been charged with: 1. Attempted Murder of two policemen 2. Attacking a policeman 3. Damaging a Police car and Possession of Molotov Cocktails List of Names and their Ages: 1 Ebrahim Abdulla Al-Mualim 44 2 Khalil Ebrahim Ali 41 3 Jaffar Abd-Ali Al-Khazaz 35 4 Nawaf Hashim Fardan 34 5 Abbas Moh’d Hubail 30 6 Sayed Haidar Humaidan 29 7 Jawad Taher Al-Sharqi 28 8 Sayed Qassim Alawi 24 9 Sadiq Bu-Hussain 24 10 Ali Abdulwahid Al-Makna 20 11 Jassim Abdullah Jassim 22 12 Ahmed Bu-Hussain 21 13 Mohammed Al-Aradi 27 14 Mohammed Ahmed Al-Taqi 19 15 Ahmed Tahir Eid 19 16 Abduallah Al-Khudur 18 17 Adel Al-Safi 17 18 Sayed Ali Alawi 16 19 Ebrahim Ashoor Abdullah 17 20 Taqi Mohmmaed Al-Taqi 17 The public prosecuter stalled their case as a punishment by detaining them for 45 days. He then renewed the case for another 20 days before their first trial, which was initially set for 25 July 2012. During the trial, BCHR became aware that there has been no tangible evidence convicting the 20 prisoners, adding to the fact that the incident as per a police report happened at 8 PM that day and all were arrested at 9 PM. The verdict will be given on 27th February 2013.

Photo : Shotgun wounds in the back of Fadhel Al-Matrook

Meanwhile today (26th Feb 2012), Bahraini courtrooms, that are being ruled by a culture of impunity and a corrupt judicial system, the high criminal court acquitted 2 security men from the murder of Fadhel Al-Matrook who was killed on 15th February 2011. The Bahrain Center for Human Rights calls on the United States, the United Kingdom, the UN and all other allies and international institutions to put pressure on the Government of Bahrain to: 1. Release all political prisoners and drop all trumped up charges against them. 2. Hold all those responsible for violations and crimes accountable, including members of the ruling family. 3. Reform the judicial system so that it is up to international standards of fair and independent trials.

PHR Condemns Decision to Pile Further Penalties on Physicians and Nurse Cambridge, MA - 01/31/2013 Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) condemns today’s decision by Bahrain’s Ministry of Health to dismiss from their ministry jobs eight medical professionals convicted in connection with providing medical care to protesters during the Arab Spring of 2011. Of the eight people dismissed—seven physicians and one nurse—four are also serving prison sentences ranging from one to five years. “These medical professionals were arrested simply for carrying out their ethical duty to treat injured people,” said Richard Sollom, deputy director of PHR. “They were then tortured, forced to confess to crimes they did not commit, convicted on trumped-up charges, and imprisoned unjustly. For them now to be forced out of their government jobs merely continues a long chain of baseless abuse by the regime.” Sollom added: “These medical professionals should be treating patients, not languishing in jail or forced to seek alternate employment. They have lost not just their freedom but their jobs, their income, and their standing in the medical community. These additional penalties may be intended as an additional warning to physicians that treating protesters might jeopardize their careers.” PHR calls on the health ministry to reinstate the doctors and nurse in their jobs immediately with compensation for lost wages, and also to compensate those who were tortured while in custody. physiciansforhumanrights.org

10 Feb 2013 The Bahrain Center for Human Rights expresses concern over the torture allegations and the deprivation of required medical care to the detainee Habeeb Ayoub Al-Mughani who is currently in a wheel chair. Arrest and Torture Habeeb Ayoub Al-Mughani (23 years old) was arrested during a 3:00 AM raid on his house on 10 April 2012. Before this incident, the police raided his grandfather's house at Al-Eker Village looking for him and searched the house without presenting a warrant. They forced his uncle to escort them to Habeeb's house. Habeeb was arrested directly from his bed. He was blindfolded from the moment he entered the police jeep and was taken to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Adliya. According to family, Habeeb was subjected to physiological and physical torture, he was handcuffed at all times. The security officers asked Habeeb if he suffers from any health conditions, and he informed them that he had surgery on his left knee after he had a "cruciate ligament rupture" in 2009. They then focused on beating him particularly on his left knee, as he has told his family. The BCHR has documented several other similar torture techniques where the victim is beaten in the area of a previous injury, so that the forensic reports written by the official doctor (if any) can clear the torturers from causing any harm and blame all damages on the old injury. Habeeb was forced to stand for 48 hours on one knee. He was beaten in places that are difficult to be identified in future, such as the head, thighs, and private areas. For three days after his arrest, he was not allowed any contact with his family or lawyer, and he was deprived from the right of having a lawyer present during his interrogation. He was tortured and forced to sign papers without knowing their content. Habeeb was blindfolded and taken to the public prosecution where he refused to confess the alleged crime of involvement in the Al-Eker explosions on the 9th April 2012 along with another 17 defendants who were arrested under similar circumstances. He was taken out to the hall where he was beaten and finally made to confess before he was taken back to the public prosecutor Ahmed Bucheeri. On the third day, Habeeb was taken to Al-Eekr village to re-enact the events. Need for Surgery and Trial Habeeb was then taken to the Dry Dock Prison. He had severe pain in his knee for which he received no medical treatment. The prison authorities took him to the prison clinic and he was given injections of an unknown substance; afterwards, his lawyer insisted that the authorities take him to the hospital. The doctor at the hospital told Habeeb that he will need an urgent surgery for his knee, but no surgery was scheduled. On the 20th of November 2012, while in the courtroom where he was on trial, he was asked to stand in front of the judge, Habeeb fell down and started screaming of pain when he stood up, the judge was very upset and postponed the session. After that incident, Habeeb has not taken to attend his trial sessions. The judge in the case requested that Habeeb must be taken to the hospital but the police officers, took him to the prison instead. On 9th of December 2012, Habeeb was taken to hospital for surgery and he was allowed to stay at Salmaniya hospital till 23rd December because of the severe pain he experienced. The doctor charged with is case requested that Habeeb must receive extensive physical therapy. Since Habeeb was discharged from hospital, he has not been taken to physical therapy despite the doctor’s orders. Habeeb has been in a wheelchair ever since the date of his surgery.

The note reads: "the patient suffered from an injury on his left knee on 2009 which caused his knee to have full Cruciate ligament rupture, and he again had an injury exactly the same place 9 months ago [April 2012], which required immediate surgical procedure and it is advised that he undergoes extensive physical therapy" Habeeb is having troubles using the toilets in prison cells which are of "Arabic style/squat toilets " and he can't use them since he is on wheelchair and can't stand on his feet. He demanded to use the one used by prison officers, who have sitting toilet. Habeeb complains that many times he is forced to wait for a long time before he is taken to the toilet. Since his surgery, he requires certain diet and the food at prison is not suitable for his recovery. Habeeb started a hunger strike to protest being deprived from medical care, he fainted on several occasions, and his sugar level dropped to very low levels, the "general inspector" at the prison visited him on 29th Jan and asked him to stop his hunger strike and promised him that he will be taken to the Salmaniya hospital the next day. Yet, he was not taken to the hospital. Habeeb escalated his protest by refusing to call his family and declined visitation until he is taken to the hospital. On the 7th of January, Habeeb was scheduled to have a medical appointment at 10:00 AM, but he was taken late at 12:00; his doctor was already gone. Habeeb’s family has raised concerns over his mental condition and his health in general since he confined to a wheel chair at all times and is locked in one corner of the cell. They fear that he might get permanent damage and might never be able to walk in future since he was prevented from receiving physical therapy for two months. They are also worried that he is not getting the prescribed medicines ordered by the doctor. The BCHR has previously documented many similar cases of detainees who are in need of medical treatment, but are deprived from it in Bahrain’s prisons, including the political leader Hasan Mushaima, a former cancer patient www.bahrainrights.org/en/node/5614 , and Ahmed Al-Mugabi who suffers anal hemorrhage, bleeding hemorrhoids and infection www.bahrainrights.org/en/node/5519 and Mohamed Sahwan who is living with 80 birdshots in his head www.bahrainrights.org/en/node/5392 . The Bahrain Center for Human Rights demands the following: 1. Provide Habeeb AlMaghani with the medical treatment required for his case, as well as all other detainees in Bahrain’s prisons who need medical care. 2. Investigate allegations of torture of Habeeb AlMaghani and bring those who are responsible to justice. 3. For the authorities in Bahrain to commit to international conventions which they have ratified, especially the rights of prisoners to receive full medical care. 4. The release of Habeeb AlMaghani and others convicted in the case where the judgment is only based on confessions extracted under torture, which is internationally prohibited.

April 2013

Sexual violence in its many forms has re-emerged as a torture technique in Bahrain. The Bahrain Independent Commission Inquiry report contains a disturbing litany of testimonies from victims of sexual violence occurring since February 2011.

Human Rights Watch had noted ongoing violations before 2010 but there has been a dramatic upsurge in rape, sodomy, sexual harassment, abuse and exploitation of detainees in recent years. Despite numerous testimonies and the findings of the BICI report the Bahraini government denies that sexual violence occurs in their prisons and detention centers. Bahrain is a signatory of the Convention Against Torture and should repeal laws such as Law 56, 2002, which offers impunity for those responsible.

BRAVO calls for an independent review of all claims of sexual violence against detainees in Bahrain under the auspices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Read the full report on bravo-bahrain.org