Bahrain arbitrarily detains children in orphanage
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Violating international law, the Bahraini authorities have had six children arbitrarily detained without clearly informing their families of the reasons behind the arrest until months passed with them behind bars.
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Bahraini child during a protest in Bahrain
The Bahraini authorities have six boys, aged between 14-15, detained in a child welfare facility, the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy and Human Rights Watch reported Tuesday.
The Bahraini authorities, under fire for repeated human rights violations, did not provide the detained children or their families with any justifications for their detention, denying the latter's requests to be present during interrogations and visit their sons.
The children come from three different families, and the public prosecutors first summoned them for questioning in June of last year. Some were interrogated at least eight times, and the state did not allow for the presence of their parents.
One of the parents said his son told him allegations changed throughout the interrogations. "First it was about burning a tire, then it was attacking a police station, and then it was throwing a Molotov cocktail. My son told me that when they asked him a question they screamed at him not to lie."
Five of the boys have been in detention since December 27, when the Public Prosecution summoned them. The authorities detained the sixth on January 9.
The Bahraini authorities first transferred the children from the police station to Dar Al Karama, which the government claims to be a "care home for beggars and the homeless before transferring them to Beit Batelco, an "institution for children of unknown parentage, orphans and children of broken families up to the age of 15."
A lawyer for the defense said they "are accused of obtaining and manufacturing Molotovs, but it is unclear if there is a specific incident attributed to them, or [if] they [are accused of having] used them."
Not even the lawyer has been informed of the legal basis for the children's detention or the reasons behind their detention in the orphanage.
Authorities took them to their court hearing in t-shirts in late January, and they were visibly cold, as the temperature that day was between 17-23 °C.
The Office of the Public Prosecution only released a statement about the case on February 1, which rights groups reviewed.
The prosecution claimed the children had been detained for throwing Molotov cocktails at the Sitra police station, which damaged a civilian car. Their detention has been extended pending their referral to the Child Correctional Court, the statement added.
The detention of children is prohibited under international law except if necessary as a last resort, urging appropriately short periods due to the risks of abuse child detention poses.
Bahraini authorities are yet to explain why they saw the detention of children who repeatedly appeared when summoned as necessary. Additionally, their detention goes against UNICEF's calls for governments to impose a moratorium on the detention of children until the COVID-19 pandemic passes.
