Jaw Prison Administration keeps political prisoners in cells for 24 hours for 3 days
New repressive decisions have been taken by the Bahraini authorities against political prisoners, as a punishment after a peaceful protest, they staged this week to meet humanitarian demands.
Starting from Monday, the authorities of Jaw Central Prison have banned political prisoners from leaving their cells for 3 days, said activist Ibtisam Al-Sayegh.
Bahraini prisons are commonplace for prisoner strikes, including hunger strikes to pressure authorities to meet their demands. However, the Jaw prison administration does not respond positively to prisoners and opts to level up arbitrary measures to silence them.
In response to these measures, the detainees carried out an angry protest in Building 13 in Jaw prison by knocking on cell doors.
Al-Sayegh urged the prison director to weigh in and address the roots of their problem, by recognizing their rights in accordance with the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners. She stressed that prisoners have the right to have access to news, entertainment
and other activities during their long time in prison.
The authorities of Jaw Prison have recently taken away televisions from detainees’ rooms, as part of a package of penalties meant to further burden political prisoners, security sources have told Bahrain Leaks.
On Sunday, convicts in building 13 ward 2 of Jaw prison carried out a peaceful protest, demanding that they be allowed to have television sets. They stressed that they need to keep in touch with the outside world by following up on news on the COVID pandemic or watching entertainment programs.
The convicts raised signs in front of the internal cameras in the wards of the building, asking authorities to allow them to have TV sets in ward 2.
In the context, security sources also pointed to the confiscation of televisions in the Dry Dock Prison at the order of the prison director, Officer Fahd Al-Kooheji.
Prisoners see television sets as their only window out after newspapers, books and all activities have been banned, too.
Meanwhile, the authorities keep prisoners for more than 22 hours in cramped cells and allow them to leave the prison yard for only an hour and a half per day.
“The detainees’ protest in Jaw Prison is an attempt to draw the attention of officials so that their simple demands can be fulfilled,” said Activist Al-Sayegh said in a tweet
Prisoners see television sets as their only window out after newspapers, books and all activities have been banned, too.
Meanwhile, the authorities keep prisoners for more than 22 hours in cramped cells and allow them to leave the prison yard for only an hour and a half per day.
“The detainees’ protest in Jaw Prison is an attempt to draw the attention of officials so that their simple demands can be fulfilled,” said Activist Al-Sayegh said in a tweet
Al-Sayegh brought attention to Rule 63 of the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, which stipulates that: “Prisoners shall be kept informed regularly of the more important items of news by the reading of newspapers, periodicals or special institutional publications, by hearing wireless transmissions, by lectures or by any similar means as authorized or controlled by the prison administration.”
” All prisoners shall be treated with respect due to their inherent dignity and value as human beings. That’s a basic principle for the treatment of prisoners too. They must be provided with protection and justice impartially,” She further explained.
Since the popular revolution of February 2011, the Bahraini authorities have arrested 4,500 political prisoners.
Detention centres in the small Gulf kingdom have turned into another arena for political revenge against political and opinion activists, said Baqer Darwish, President of Bahrain Forum for Human Rights.
Bahraini prison administration deliberately pledges the rights of prisoners as basic as performing religious rites, claiming that security permission must be obtained before approval.
