Prisoners of conscience in Bahrain’s prisons gave shocking testimonies exposing the medical negligence in the prisons of the Khulaifi regime and the slow killing of opponents.
Prisoner of conscience Syed Ali Alawi Hashem described the medical staff in Jau Prison in Bahrain as a “medical mafia” that lacks rules and principles for dealing with patients.
This came in a leaked audio recording from the prison. Hashem criticized the way doctors treat patients of prisoners, which is characterized by indifference and sometimes insulting of patients, describing this treatment as “more severe than the whips of the executioners.”
The political prisoner, Syed Ali Alawi Hashem Ashour, is sentenced to life imprisonment. He spent more than a year in solidarity with Dr Abdul-Jalil Al-Singace, against the background of the latter’s hunger strike.
In this context, human rights circles published a new testimony from political detainee Jassem Al-Eskafi about medical negligence in Jau Prison, describing it as the train of death that takes the lives of prisoners.
The detainee in Jau Prison, Ali Ahmed Khamis, is also subjected to systematic medical neglect and confirms that medical negligence affects many prisoners of conscience and is not limited to individual cases.
The authorities often claim they provide the necessary care to prisoners of conscience. Still, human rights reports documented from inside Jau Prison confirm that they are denied the necessary medical care.
Among the deprived prisoners of conscience is the academic Abdul-Jalil Al-Singace, whom the authorities refused to provide with rubber supports for his crutches and mistreated him, which prompted him to go on hunger strike months ago.
A human rights statistic has previously documented the spending of 48 political detainees in the prisons of the Bahraini regime since 2011.
They lost their lives due to brutal torture and the policy of medical negligence pursued by the Bahraini regime authorities.
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights stated that the detainee, Abbas Hassan Malallah, 50, has become the 48th victim serving in Bahrain’s prisons.
On Tuesday, the opposition National Islamic Al-Wefaq Society announced the death of the detainee “Mal Allah” due to dangerous and inhuman conditions and medical negligence.
The Ministry of Interior tried to evade its new crime by fabricating false accusations against the victim.
The Ministry of Interior claimed that the detainee lost his life due to natural death after he was transferred to Salmaniya Hospital after suffering a heart attack.
The Bahrain Center called for the release of detainees who were arrested in connection with issues related to Bahrain’s political and human rights situation since 2011.
It stressed the need to open an impartial and independent investigation into the case of Mal Allah’s death and to hold those who are proven to be involved in it to account.
It cautioned that detainees should be provided with necessary health care inside prisons. Their families should be allowed to communicate with them permanently to check on their health.
It urged the authorities to abide by the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, known as the “Nelson Mandela Rules”.
It also called for the adoption of strict health standards in light of the spread of the Corona pandemic.
Human Rights First described the conditions of prisoners of conscience in Bahrain’s Jau Prison as “horrific.”
She pointed out that the recent widespread protests in support of them may represent a turning point in the Kingdom.
The committee, formerly known as the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, said that the central prison “contains an explosive mixture.
Of the young men who are serving long sentences, many of them have been tortured.”
The prison was built with a capacity of 1,201 prisoners, but the Bahraini authorities have accumulated about 2,700 inmates inside.
Based in New York City and Washington, DC, the human rights organization warned that prisoners are crammed into cells.
Physical and psychological torture has always been systematic inside this prison, as it was not surprising that they were subjected to severe repression in 2015 when protests broke out in prison.
