Bahrain using physical, psychological torture against detainees: ADHRB

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Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain, a human rights organization concerned with reporting on and protecting human rights in Bahrain, issued on Monday a report entitled "Living in Agony: The Long Term Effects of Torture in Bahrain."

The organization said the report discussed the "invisible wounds that persist in Bahraini torture victims’
psychological state and social relationships years after their mistreatment, relying on testimonies from the victims themselves as well as a specialist who has dealt with these cases."

According to the report, the authorities, usually riot police, officers in civilian clothing, and Criminal Investigation officers, upon arresting individuals over their political or social activities, "are likely to use violence."

The police, according to the report, conduct warrantless raids, which they use to destroy or confiscate the property of the detainee's family, threatening or terrorizing the family itself. The physical maltreatment, the organization said, includes kicking, beating, and blindfolding, all of which are often accompanied by insults, ridicule, and threats.

The detainees are beaten, getting kicked and slapped, beaten with batons and pipes, suspended, placed in extremely cold and hot temperatures, burnt, shocked, deprived of sleep, and sexually assaulted, the report said.

The report cited the testimony of one detainee who said he was arrested in a 2:00 AM raid before he was handcuffed and blindfolded by riot police. "On his way to the investigation center, AlQareen Prison, he was subjected to sectarian insults and beatings. Once he arrived at the prison, officers beat and kicked the victim, specifically targeting his head. He was spat on, humiliated, and pushed to the ground repeatedly."

He was then placed in solitary confinement before an officer spilled water on him and turned on the cold air conditioning in order to prevent him from sleeping, accompanying that by hitting the bras of his jail cells to create loud noises and disturb him. 

He had revered religious figures and mocked and threatened that his daughters would be raped. He wound up getting sexually assaulted. "This testimony is meant to depict the inhumanity detainees are subjected to from the moment of their arrest, which can have a profound impact on their mental health."

The report highlighted the negative impact of torture, saying its psychological impact "inevitably flows into the social aspect of the victims' lives, as one's relationships with others and the way they interact with their surroundings is largely defined by their mental health."

"Bahraini officials have been torturing detainees and prisoners with impunity, inflicting physical and psychological harm which victims struggle to recover from for years to come," Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain said in the conclusion.

The violence and torture, the report concluded, have left hundreds of Bahrainis to live in fear and hopelessness, rendering them unable to lead fulfilling lives because they suffered from inhumane and violent treatment without ever receiving any form of justice or support.

The Bahraini Al-Wefaq Society said in late January 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.

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.

A day earlier, 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.

Earlier, the human rights organization Americans for Democracy and 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.