A member of the UK Parliament Wayne David called on his government to intervene to unconditionally release all political detainees in Bahrain, led by the country's oldest prisoner and human rights activist Dr. Abdul Jalil al-Singace.

David demanded, in an open letter, the immediate release al-Singace, emphasizing the depth of the UK-Bahrain ties, in order to pressure the Bahraini government to recall the cases of political detainees in the country.

Yesterday @Lord_Collins and I wrote to the @FCDOGovUK about Dr Abduljalil AlSingace, to mark his 50th day on hunger strike.

The UK should urge #Bahrain to return his confiscated research and immediately release him. pic.twitter.com/EBBvcd8t8C

— Wayne David (@WayneDavid_MP) August 27, 2021

Who is Dr. Abdul Jalil al-Singace?

Dr. Abdul Jalil al-Singace, an imprisoned human rights defender and opposition activist, has been on a hunger strike since July 8, 2021. He is protesting against persistent ill-treatment at the hands of Jau Prison authorities, Bahrain's main prison, restrictions imposed during COVID-19 limiting prisoners' contact to only five numbers, and demanding that a confiscated book he authored in prison be returned to his family.

"Al-Singace's book is concerned with the linguistic diversity in the Arabic dialects within Bahrain and has no political content whatsoever," according to human rights organizations.

A respected academic and blogger, Dr. al-Singace has spent the last decade in prison serving a life sentence. He was among 13 opposition activists arrested between 17 March and 9 April 2011, including high-profile political opposition leaders, activists, and human rights defenders, who were then convicted by a military tribunal for their roles in the 2011 pro-democracy protest movement.

According to the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, Bahraini authorities held Dr. al-Singace in solitary confinement for two months after his arrest and subjected him to torture, including being beaten and sexually molested.

Being a political prisoner in Bahrain 

On July 19, the Office of the Public Prosecutor of Bahrain referred al-Singace's case to the Ministry of Interior's Ombudsman. The Public Prosecution statement incorrectly reported that al-Singace's hunger strike was also related to "the refusal of the [Jau's Reformation and Rehabilitation] center's administration to allow him to contact his relatives."

Many imprisoned political leaders in Bahrain have pre-existing health conditions, making them especially vulnerable to diseases like COVID-19. Dr. al-Singace suffers from post-polio syndrome, vertigo, which causes him to lose his balance and fall, a slipped disk in his back and neck, which causes chronic pain, and paresthesia in his muscles and limbs. 

Throughout his 10-year incarceration, Dr. al-Singace has been subjected to repeated medical negligence on the part of prison authorities, namely the prison's repeated refusal to provide medical care.

Release al-Singace

Human rights groups, including "Amnesty International" and the "Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy," called on the Bahraini regime to release al-Singace. 

"We call for the immediate and unconditional release of al-Singace, and for his book to be handed over to his family immediately," the human rights organization stated.

On his account, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Marie Lawlor has previously called on Bahrain to immediately release three human rights defenders, including al-Singace, who are suffering from "prolonged detention due to their human rights and freedom of expression activism."

In early March, 15 human rights organizations demanded that the US administration address the tragic decline of human rights in Bahrain.