Human Rights Group: Crackdown on Bahraini Political Prisoners Taking place with Knowledge of Minister of Interior
Independent human rights group, Bahrain Forum for Human Rights, confirms that repression of political prisoners in Bahrain’s Jaw Central Prison is taking place with the knowledge of the Bahraini Minister of Interior, Rashid Abdullah Al-Khalifa.
President of BFHR, Baqer Darwish, said that the Ministry of Interior is exercising direct revenge against prisoners and their families who protest to demand their release.
Bahraini authorities’ procedures indicate that the security measures taken since the brutal attack in Buildings 12 and 13 of Jaw Prison cannot be implemented without direct knowledge of the Minister of Interior.
“The nerve-burning that the security authorities are doing to prevent detainees from communicating with their families indicates that whoever took the decision to punish the detainees in buildings 12 and 13 wants not to stop giving vent to the doctrine of political revenge,” added Darwish.
In an attempt to whitewash the regime’s violations, which have increased in intensity recently, Bahrain’s National Foundation issued a statement regarding the attacks that affected dozens of prisoners on Saturday noon.
The attacks took place in buildings 12 and 13 of Jaw prison and caused bloody injuries among the detainees, as well as the transfer of 33 prisoners to an unknown destination.
The two officers Captain Ahmed Al Hammadi and Captain Muhammad Abdul Hamid supervised the attacks.
The National Institution denied all the violent attacks, beatings and torture committed by security forces against prisoners.
It held the political prisoners responsible for what happened in the two wards.
Activists and human rights defenders say that what happened in Jau Prison would not have happened had it not been for the blessing of the Interior Minister.
Earlier, Bahraini Minister of Interior expressed his annoyance at the recent human rights reports issued by human rights organizations regarding the continuing human rights violations against political opponents.
Sheikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa claimed that Bahrain “has been exposed in recent times to inflammatory calls and biased reports.”
These calls were issued by “parties, outside organizations, and misleading media channels,” he claimed.
Therefore, human rights activists stress the necessity of filing lawsuits against the minister in international organizations in order to hold him accountable for his crimes.
In a joint statement, three human rights organizations said that the responsibility for what happened and the safety of prisoners rests specifically with the government of Bahrain and the Minister of Interior.
The organizations are Bahrain Forum for Human Rights, Salam Organization for Democracy and Human Rights, Gulf Institute for Democracy and Human Rights.
The three organizations called on the government once again to respond urgently to the request of the UN rapporteurs, especially the special rapporteur on torture, and allow him to visit the country.
Rashid bin Abdullah is one of the most important pillars of the Al Khalifa family, which rules Bahrain with an iron fist. He has held the position of Minister of the Interior for 16 years.
After the Bahraini government’s violent crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in 2011, he supervised the arbitrary arrests and torture of protesters, opposition activists, and athletes.
Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain urged to punish the Bahraini minister by using the International Magnitsky Act for human rights accountability.
Last month, a human rights organization called on the United Nations Human Rights Council to question the Minister of Interior of Bahrain for the ongoing crimes of human rights violations in the Kingdom.
