Harassment of various human rights defenders, including excessive use of force, ill-treatment and torture in custody

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, apartnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requestsyour urgent intervention in the following situation in Bahrain.

Description of the situation:

TheObservatory has been informed by reliable sources about several acts ofharassment targeting various human rights defenders throughout May 2017,including excessive use of force, ill-treatment and torture in custody andother acts of intimidation by Bahraini security forces.

Accordingto the information received, on May 23, 2017, Mr. Mohammed Kadhem Mohsen,Deputy President of a local chapter of the Environment Friends Society[1]in the village of Duraz, died from injuries to his head caused by birdshotduring a police raid on the same day against a peaceful sit-in organised toprotest the harassment of religious leader Sheikh Issa Qassem[2].During the raid, 286 persons were arrested and at least four other peacefulprotesters were killed, including Messrs. MohammedAli Ibrahim Ahmed, Ahmad Jamil AhmedMohammed Al-Asfour and MohammedAhmed Hassan Mohammed Hamdan[3].Throughout May 2017, peaceful protesters have been violently cracked down byauthorities in Duraz, which access is restricted to since this is the citywhere Sheikh Issa Qassem resides.

Concurrentlyto the repression of peaceful protesters, a number of human rights defenders,journalists and online activists have been summoned for interrogation,reportedly ill-treated, threatened and forced to publicly announce their resignationfrom their human rights activities during interrogation by the BahrainiNational Security Agency (NSA).

OnMay 23, 2017, Mr. Adel Al-Marzoog,member of the Bahrain Human Rights Observatory of the Al-Wehdawi Society, apolitical group, was summoned by the NSA in Muharraq and kept in custody untilthe following day. Following his release on May 24, 2017, Mr. Al-Marzoogannounced his resignation and said that he will stop all his human rightsactivities. It has been reported that he was ill-treated during his detentionand forced to remain standing for 18 hours.

OnMay 24, 2017, the Third Grand Criminal Court reduced Dr. Taha Al-Derazi’s sentence from six to three months in detentionunder charges of “illegal gathering”. Dr. Al-Derazi was immediately taken intocustody to begin serving his sentence. Charges against him stem from his arrest,interrogation and subsequent release on August 14, 2016, after taking part in apeaceful assembly on July 19, 2016 in the village of Duraz protesting thearbitrary revocation of Sheik Issa Qassem’s citizenship.

OnMay 25, 2017, the Second Lower Criminal Court handed down a 1,000 Bahrainidinars (approx. 2,365 Euros) fine against journalist Ms. Nazeeha Saeed, France 24 and Radio Monte Carlo Doualiya’scorrespondent in Bahrain, for “working without a license”[4].The Court of Appeals will review her case on July 18, 2017. Ms. Saeed, whoseapplication to renew her license has been rejected without any basis at the endof March 2016, was summoned for interrogation and charged with “unlawfullyworking for an international media” under Article 88 of Law 47/2002 on July 17,2016.

Besides,on May 27, 2017, Mrs. Ebtisam Al-Saegh,Monitoring and Documentation Officer at the NGO Salam for Democracy and HumanRights, was summoned by the NSA to Muharraq police station. She was releasedseven hours later and was immediately taken to the hospital in a veryconcerning psychological state, following a “severe nervous breakdown”. Uponher release, Mrs. Al-Saegh reported having suffered acts of torture, includingsevere beatings on the head, sexual abuse and was insulted threatened to be raped if she continued her human rightswork. NSA agents also threatened to target her family members. Accordingto reliable reports, she was also forced to repeat the royal anthem and beatenand insulted when failed to do so properly. During her interrogation, she wasasked about the work of activists inside and outside Bahrain, including inGeneva during sessions of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council (HRC).

Mrs.Ebtisam Al-Saegh, who together with 22 other human rights defenders in April2017 was subjected to a travel ban and falsely accused of participating in“illegal gatherings” in the city of Duraz[5], is alsothe target of a defamation campaign conducted by the pro-government newspaper Al-Ayam, which accused her offabricating reports on human rights violations in Bahrain. On May 15, 2017, Mrs.Al-Saegh’s car was burnt.

Summonedby the NSA in Muharraq on May 28, 2017, blogger Mr. Hassan Al-Sharqi, who had been tweeting about the Duraz protests,the rights of peaceful assemblers and calling authorities to allow families ofkilled protesters to see the bodies, declared on the same day that he would stoptweeting. Reports confirmed that during his interrogation he was insulted,beaten and ordered by a security officer to stop his online activities.

Onthe same day, the head of the monitoring and documentation team at the BahrainHuman Rights Society (BHRS), Mr. AbduljalilYousif, was summoned to the headquarters of NSA in Muharraq. He wasinterrogated for four hours about his human rights activities with BHRS andabout his private life. Upon his release, he reported that he had beensubjected to insults and psychological torture and was threatened that if hedoes not stop his human rights activities, he would be exposed and his familywill be targeted.

TheObservatory condemns the killing of Mr. Mohammed Kadhem and urges Bahrainiauthorities to adopt effective measures to ensure the protection of humanrights defenders in the country. The Observatory also calls for an immediate,thorough, impartial, and transparent investigation into Mr. Mohammed Kadhem’sdeath and for those responsible to be held accountable.

The Observatory is appalled by the above-mentionedreports of torture and ill-treatment and expresses its outmost concerns overthese new acts of harassment and intimidation against human rights defenders inBahrain, which only aim at sanctioning their legitimate human rightsactivities, and urges authorities to fully investigate the allegations ofmistreatment by the authorities.

Actions requested:

Please write to the authorities in Bahrain, urging them to:

i. Ensure the psychological and physical integrity of all human rightsdefenders in Bahrainand in particular of the aforementioned individuals;

ii. Fully, promptly, impartially and transparentlyinvestigate the killing of Mohammed Kadhem and other peaceful protesters aswell as the allegations of torture, ill-treatment, and physical and psychologicalpressure of human rights defenders by security agents during interrogation andin particular of the aforementioned individuals;

iii. Put an end to all forms of harassment, including atthe judicial level against all human rights defenders in Bahrain, and inparticular against the aforementioned individuals, so that they are able tocarry out their work without hindrance;

iv. Comply with all the provisions of the United Nations Declaration onHuman Rights Defenders, in particular with its Articles 1, 5(b), and 12.2;

v. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamentalfreedoms in accordance with international human rights standards andinternational instruments ratified by Bahrain.

Addresses:

• Cheikh Hamad bin Issa AL KHALIFA,King of Bahrain, Fax: +973 176 64 587
• Cheikh Khaled Bin Ahmad AL KHALIFA, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fax : 0097317 21 05 75; ofd@mofa.gov.bh

• Cheikh Khalid bin Ali AL KHALIFA,Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs, Fax: +973 175 31 284

• Lt. Gen. Cheikh Rashed bin AbdullaAL KHALIFA, Minister of Interior, Email: info@interior.gov.bh
• H.E. Mr. Yusuf Abdulkarim Bucheeri, Permanent Mission of Bahrain to theUnited Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Fax: + 41 22 758 96 50. Email:info@bahrain-mission.ch
• H.E. Ahmed Mohammed Yousif Aldoseri, Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain to theKingdom of Belgium, Fax: 0032 (0) 26472274; E-mail:Brussels.mission@mofa.gov.bh

Pleasealso write to the diplomatic mission or embassy of Bahrain in your respectivecountry.

***

Paris-Geneva,June 13, 2017

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of thisappeal in your reply.

The Observatory for theProtection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 byFIDH and OMCT. The objective of this programme is to intervene to prevent orremedy situations of repression against human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCTare both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human RightsDefenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society.

To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:

· E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org

· Tel and faxFIDH + 33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 1 43 55 18 80

· Tel and fax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22809 49 29

[1] The Environment FriendsSociety is a non-governmental organization founded in 2000 to achieve thenational and global goal of protecting our environment, including throughparticipating in law-making processes.

[2] Religious leader Sheikh Issa Qassem is the most senior Shia clericin Bahrain. He was stripped of his citizenship in June 2016 and charged withmoney laundering in July 2016. The charges relate solely to the Shia religiouspractice of khums, an annual payment made by Shia Muslims to Shiaclerics for distribution to those in need. On May 21, 2017, a Bahraini courtordered the seizure of Sheikh Isa Qasim's assets and properties and sentencedhim to one year in prison, suspended for three years. Since 2016, peacefulprotests regularly take place around his house to denounce the harassment facedby Sheikh Issa Qassem.

[3] The identity of the fourth person has not beendisclosed to date. Amongst the 286 persons arrested, 197 weretransferred to Jau prison, without access to their lawyers, and 89 werereleased.

[4] Ms. Nazeeha Saeed has been covering pro-democracy demonstrations inBahrain and denouncing rights violations committed by police forces duringthese protests. As a result, she was previously held in custody in 2011 and tortured.

[5] See Observatory Urgent Appeal BHR 001 / 0417 / OBS 047, published on April 28, 2017.