The UN Special Task Force has revealed details of the torture of human rights defenders in Al-Khalifa prisons.
According to the international group Tasnim News Agency, quoting Al-Ahd news website, “Marie Lawlor”, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, stated that the UN special working group has revealed the details of the torture of three human rights defenders in Bahraini (Al-Khalifa) prisons.
A statement from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva said that a Bahraini activist, Abdel Hadi Al-Khawaja, was severely tortured in one of the Al Khalifa prisons in Bahrain and severely fractured in the face and two others. Other activists, Abd al-Jalil al-Sankis and Naji al-Fitil are also being held in solitary confinement for basic medical care. In addition, Bahraini authorities are forcing these activists to make unrealistic confessions under inhumane torture.
Marie Lawlor said the situation of the three human rights defenders in Bahrain’s prisons was “extremely worrying” and that other activists, such as Abbas al-Imran and Ali Abdul-Imam, had been tried in absentia and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
He added that the criminalization of human rights defenders in Bahrain, not only because of their peaceful activities to defend the rights of others, has not only had a devastating effect on the lives of these people and their families, but also on the country’s civil society.
Last Sunday, the UN team in a report accused the Al Khalifa regime of confessing to tortured prisoners, following which Mohammad Ramadan and Hussein Musa were accused of killing a police officer in 2014 and sentenced to death. Bahraini authorities, meanwhile, deny being tortured.
