UN and European demands to hold Bahrain accountable after the suppression of a peaceful sit-in in Jau Prison

The Bahraini authorities are facing denunciations and demands from agencies and human rights activists due to their practices towards activists, most recently from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and representatives in Italy and Ireland.

The spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Marta Hurtado, condemned the use of excessive force by the Bahraini police forces to break up a peaceful sit-in in Bahrain’s Jaw Prison on April 17th. Read also British parliamentarians demand the release of opposition leaders in Bahrain An American organization condemning the environmental violations committed by the government of Bahrain Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain addresses the Human Rights Council regarding political prisoners The Special Representative of the European Union for Human Rights calls on Bahrain to cancel the executions

Hurtado said in a statement issued by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights today, Friday, that eyewitness accounts confirmed that the Special Forces threw stun grenades and hit the detainees on the head. As a result, many of them were seriously injured.

The statement added that the Bahraini authorities transferred 33 protesters to another building in the prison, where they were held incommunicado, and were unable to contact their families or their lawyers, in violation of local and international law.

The spokeswoman for the High Commissioner for Human Rights added that the prisoners were protesting the conditions of their detention, especially the lack of access to medical treatment. The sit-in began on April 5 after the death of political prisoner Abbas Mal Allah, after he was denied – according to information obtained by UNHCR – of timely access to basic health care.

A spokeswoman for the High Commissioner for Human Rights called on the Bahraini government to open an immediate investigation into the violent suppression of the sit-in in Jau Prison, to provide information about the status of 33 prisoners currently held incommunicado, and to allow them to contact their lawyers and their families.

Italy

On the other hand, Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain said that Emilio Carelli, a deputy in the Italian parliament, recently addressed written questions to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Luigi Di Maio, focusing on human rights violations in Bahrain and fears of increasing Cases of execution, systematic torture of detainees, and persecution of lawyers, activists and human rights defenders.

The Italian MP confirmed that conditions of detention in Bahrain have seriously deteriorated in the last period with the spread of the Corona pandemic. This poses a threat to the lives of opponents and political prisoners detained in Bahraini prisons. Advertising

Kareli said that the Bahraini authorities, “since the beginning of the peaceful pro-democracy protests in 2011, have intensified their suppression and control of civil society through the interrogation, arrest and imprisonment of activists, journalists, political leaders and religious figures.”

Ireland

In Ireland, Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain said that 5 representatives in the Irish Parliament called on their government to work to put an end to human rights violations in Jaw Prison in Bahrain, and to issue a joint statement at the next meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council condemning the situation The deteriorating humanitarian in the Gulf state.

The five lawmakers – Joan Collins, Roy Morshaw, Sean Hohe, John Brady and Sean Sherlock, asked questions to Secretary of State Simon Coveney regarding the efforts made by the Republic of Ireland to issue a joint statement at the United Nations Human Rights Council prior to the Council’s Standing Committee meeting.

The deputies also called on the Minister of Foreign Affairs to comment on the deteriorating human rights conditions in Jau Prison as a result of the outbreak of the Coronavirus.

Four members of the Irish Senate, Vincent Martin, David Norris, Joe O’Brien and Paul Gavan, raised the issue of human rights violations in Bahrain in direct correspondence with the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In her letter to the Secretary of State, Representative Joan Collins asked whether “Ireland will lead a joint statement in the United Nations Human Rights Council” condemning what is happening in the country.

Representative Sean Sherlock referred to the death of the Bahraini citizen, Abbas Mal Allah, while in custody in Jau Prison, and asked whether the Irish government lodged a protest with its Bahraini counterpart regarding the reported ill-treatment of political prisoners.