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Families hope for second jail visit
By RASHA AL QAHTANI
Published: 1st June 2008
FAMILIES of eight Bahraini teachers, who have been detained in a Saudi prison for more than three months, hope to see them for the second time since their arrest by next month, it emerged yesterday.
The families say they were greatly concerned about their physical condition, which dramatically deteriorated due to depression and hopelessness.
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Families hope for second jail visit
By RASHA AL QAHTANI
Published: 1st June 2008
FAMILIES of eight Bahraini teachers, who have been detained in a Saudi prison for more than three months, hope to see them for the second time since their arrest by next month, it emerged yesterday.
The families say they were greatly concerned about their physical condition, which dramatically deteriorated due to depression and hopelessness.
The detainees are being held in solitary confinement in two by three metre cells, according to the relatives.
They say that negotiations are currently underway with Saudi authorities to allow access to all the families.
Hameed Ahmed Ebrahim, brother of detainee Abbas Ahmed, said that the families wanted to visit the detainees to keep their hopes up.
“We do not know when we are set to leave as negotiations are taking place between the Bahrain and the Saudi authorities,” he said.
“The detainees should be released by now. I do not understand why these interrogations are taking such a long time and why they are being kept in solitary confinement.
“They (the detainees) told us on our last visit on April 23 that they were being kept in two by three metre isolated chambers.
“They were not subjected to body torture but their psychological state was not so good.
“They looked weak and lean and their faces were very pale.”
Mr Ebrahim said that the best the families could do now is to continue visiting them regularly until their release.
Suggestions that the men had been questioned over alleged political affiliation with foreign powers surfaced in a report by the dissolved Bahrain Centre for Human Rights last week.
It states that Saudi authorities are reportedly trying to draw links between the teachers with Iran and Hizbolla.
However, the men’s relatives had denied any connection between them and any foreign groups. They have also denied the men have been involved in political unrest in Bahrain.
The other seven detainees are Sayed Ahmed Alawi, 29, Isa Abdulhassan Ahmed, 26, Mohammed Hassan Ali Marhoon, 30, Mohammed Abdulla Al Momen, 32, Mohammed Mahdi Khalil, 30, Majeed Al Ghasra, 28, and Ebrahim Al Haddad, 28. All eight are teachers at Al Jaberiya Secondary Boys School and Shaikh Abdulla Secondary School. rasha@gdn.com.bh
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