Shabbir Lakha
David Cameron welcomes Hamad bin Khalifa, the King of Bahrain, to Downing Street on August 6th 2013.
Following the successful uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, mass protests were spreading across the Middle East in February 2011. Bahrain, which had seen periodic uprisings against the ruling Al Khalifa monarchy that has governed the country with an iron fist for over 200 years and long oppressed its majority Shia population, was no exception.
Witnessing the electric scenes coming out of Tahrir Square, Bahraini organisers called a protest in solidarity with Egypt on the 4 February and a Day of Rage on 14 February. The date had been chosen to coincide with the ten year anniversary of the âNational Action Charterâ which were supposed to be a series of reforms agreed by referendum that had put an end to the last uprising â and that had completely failed to materialise.
Danish-Bahraini
Swedish-Bahraini
Sheikh Mohammed Habib AlMuqdad, both of whom are considered prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International, having been prosecuted and sentenced to life imprisonment for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and subjected to torture and other ill-treatment including denial of medical care.
In April 2011, security forces violently arrested
Al-Khawaja and broke his jaw, leading to surgery for four broken bones in his face. Security officers tortured Al-Khawaja directly after his major jaw surgery, while blindfolded and restrained to a military hospital bed, which forced the doctor to ask the security officers to stop as it would undo the surgical work. Almost ten years later he still suffers from chronic pain and requires additional surgery to remove the metal plates and screws that were used to reattach his jaw.
Bahrain: Joint Letter to EU Ahead of Meeting With Bahraini Delegation article19.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from article19.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The briefing was
facilitated by the Dublin based European Centre for Democracy and Human Rights
(ECDHR).
Speaking after meeting with Dr Saeed
Al-Shehabi and Ali Mushaima, son of the political prisoner of conscience Hasan
Mushaima, Francie Molloy MP said:
“It is very disheartening to hear
about the continued denial of basic democratic and civil rights in
Bahrain.
“It is particularly troubling to hear
about the treatment of political prisoners, with reports of arbitrary denial of
medical assistance and restrictions on phone calls to loved ones.
“The British Government continues to
turn a blind eye to the human rights abuses in Bahrain.
Rights organizations call on Biden administration to shift US policy toward Bahrain
A woman holds a placard featuring portraits of jailed political activists during an anti-government protest, in the village of Jannusan, Bahrain, 5 September 2014, MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH/AFP via Getty Images In a joint letter to President Elect Joseph Biden, organizations raise their concerns about the deteriorating political situation in Bahrain and urge him to ensure that democracy and human rights are returned to the center of American foreign policy.
This statement was originally published on adhrb.org on 16 December 2020.
Dear President Elect Joseph Biden-
We the undersigned organizations are writing to offer our sincere congratulations for your election to the presidency of the United States. We are writing to raise our concerns about the deteriorating political situation in Bahrain and urge you to ensure that democracy and human rights are re