Al-Wefaq: Prison conditions endangering lives of political prisoners

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeen net
22 Jan 2023 15:56

Al-Wefaq Society accuses the Bahraini regime of depriving the political prisoners of their most basic human rights, including medical care.

Bahrainis protest in support of political prisoners in Bahrain, May 13, 2017 (AFP)

The Bahraini Al-Wefaq Society said that the audio recordings of dozens of political prisoners in the prisons of the Bahraini regime confirmed the difficult and poor conditions under which they are living.

Al-Wefaq said in a statement that many political prisoners died during the last period inside Bahraini regime prisons as a result of poor and unhealthy conditions, being deprived of medical care, in addition to many killed under torture to extract false confessions from them.

Al-Wefaq stressed that what political prisoners are undergoing amounts to a crime and constitutes a threat to their lives, stressing that it is not permissible to resort to retaliation against prisoners when it comes to their food, health, and basic needs.

جمعية الوفاق الوطني الإسلامية: عشرات الصوتيات ونداء المئات من المعتقلين السياسيين في البحرين يطالبون بتوفير ظروف انسانية والنظام وداعميه يتجاهلون https://t.co/zMrdP3LPvC #صرخة_المظلوم #البحرين #Bahrain pic.twitter.com/8eACy06ZqD
— Alwefaq Society (@ALWEFAQ) January 21, 2023

The Bahraini Society also pointed out that denying the prisoners water, treatment, heating, and sun exposure, as well as normal communication with their families, not to mention the other inhumane conditions constitute a crime and a systematic attack on the lives of the political prisoners who were arrested for calling for basic humanitarian demands, human rights, public freedoms, and democracy.

Turning a blind eye to what is happening in Bahrain and ignoring all transgressions and crimes against human rights by all Western countries and parties supporting the regime is unacceptable, the Society added.

The people of Bahrain see clear the international mobilization toward all issues related to freedoms and human rights in some countries, yet they deliberately and clearly ignore what is happening in Bahrain it pointed out.

On Saturday, courts in Bahrain sentenced nearly two dozen anti-regime protesters to prison, including three minors, as the ruling Al Khalifah continues a heavy-handed crackdown in the tiny Kingdom.

Seven of the defendants were sentenced to life in prison in absentia, while nine others were sentenced to ten years in prison, according to the report. Two other young dissidents were sentenced to five years in prison, and three minors were sentenced to three years each.

Pro-democracy activists scoffed at the rulings against the three minors, claiming that they had been denied their most basic rights in Bahrain's notorious prisons. They also warned against subjecting minors to various forms of cruel mental and physical torture.

A few days ago, political prisoners in Bahrain launched a distress call under the title "The Cry of the Oppressed" where 678 detainees signed a humanitarian petition in the Jaw Central Prison, demanding that they be provided with humanitarian conditions; a most basic right.

Earlier, the human rights organization Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain denounced the attack carried out on 14 political prisoners in isolation, warning of "the continuation of violations and impunity."

Amnesty International had previously monitored an attack against prisoners of conscience in Bahrain, who were subjected to isolation from the outside world, after filing a complaint with the authorities of the Bahraini regime.