Bahrain: Security Authorities return to the use of torture by “falaqa” and electrocution to extract confessions from detainees
The detainees were unaware that they were being filmed while stating their confessions in a pre-prepared film to convict them and to mislead public opinion
Bahrain: Security Authorities return to the use of torture by “falaqa” and electrocution to extract confessions from detainees
The detainees were unaware that they were being filmed while stating their confessions in a pre-prepared film to convict them and to mislead public opinion
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights expresses its deep concern and worry for the health and life of 14 Bahraini citizens who were arrested since 15 December by the National Security Apparatus, and whom the authority claims to be members of a “terrorist cell group”, and were trained in Syria last summer, as was stated in the film that was prepared in advance and which was broadcasted on Monday evening, 28 December.
What adds to the concern is what the lawyers of detainees reported and which is related to their clients being put through torture; whose marks were evident on their bodies. They are being held in solitary confinements, and most of them do not know the other detainees with them in the same case or the nature of the charges against them. According to what the detainees expressed to their lawyers, most of them have not visited Syria before, as was stated in the film. As per the information conveyed to the BCHR by the detainees’ lawyers, some of them were arrested as “hostages” until he handed over his wanted brother to the security Apparatus who came to arrest him when he was not at home; the other was brought in as a “witness” in the case to find themselves accused of being part of the alleged cell.
Among the lawyers defending the alleged cell are the lawyers Ahmed Al-Arrayid, Hafedh Hafedh, Mohammed Ahmed and Mohammed Al-Jishi.
According to the statement made by the majority of detainees, the methods of torture , which was practiced by the National Security includes:
1) Electrocution in the armpits and in the genital organs of the detainees
2) Hanging up for long hours with tied hands, and beating on sensitive areas on the body
3) Falaqa – which is inserting a solid bar between the arms and legs after tying them, and hanging the detainee between two props where the body is kept hanging in the air, with head and leg positioned upside down, then the feet are beaten with a solid bar.
4) Solitary confinement and forcing them to stand for long hours with hands tied and eyes folded, with deprivation of sleep and going to the lavatory, and insulting and hurling abusive and libel words.
The BCHR fears that that torture, especially the electric shock, will cause permanent damage to the health of those detainees for the rest of their lives. The family of the young Maytham Bader Al-Sheikh – one of the convicts of the incidents of December 2007 and an activist in the Unemployed Committee – state that he was infected with a permanent and dangerous neuron disease and brain damage that are threatening his life due to torturing with the electrocution. It is noteworthy that Maythem was one of the ones who were exposed to heavy doses of physical and psychological torture during the first stage of investigation and which included electrocution in the various parts of the body and on his genital organs, in addition to sexually assaulting him.
On the other hand, and until they met with their lawyers, the detainees were not aware that they videotaped while they were making their “confessions”, and that they were broadcasted on Bahrain TV and on the newspapers. Regarding the circumstances of their confessions on TV, the detainees stated that one of the members of the National Security Apparatus informed them that a “sheikh” of the ruling family – without revealing his full name – will meet them to hear their statement and will submit it to the king of Bahrain for the purpose of releasing them. That employee asked them to repeat the “confessions” – which were extracted under torture – before the “sheikh” in order for him to seek their release. Accordingly, they were dressed differently and neatly in order to present a good image in front of the “sheikh”, as it appeared on Bahrain’s government TV screen, without being aware of the fact that there was a camera that was filming their conversation with the “sheikh” whose name they do not know. It is worth mentioning that the National Security Apparatus is headed by Sheikh Khalifa bin Abdulla Al-Khalifa, Bahrain’s former ambassador to UK.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Abdulla had played the role of the link between the king – Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa – and between two of the leaders of the Bahraini opposition who met him in the summer of 2007 in London; one of these two was Mr. Hasan Mushaima, whose name was mentioned among the confessions in that film as one of the main instigators of the terrorist cell.
The National Security Apparatus, headed by Sheikh Khalifa, replaced the former State Security Service of the Ministry of Interior Affairs and which is responsible for torturing a large number of citizens and exiling them, and is responsible for the death of many ppeople.
Nabeel Rajab, president of the BCHR stated that, “Picturing the political tension and the crisis plaguing the country as foreign plots or security issues and terrorist cells will not help in solving those poised issues but it would rather complicate matters. The Bahraini authorities should have preferably started laying down solutions for those issues, first and foremost the systematic discrimination against the Shiite population, and to stop the political and sectarian naturalization and to release all political detainees and to start a serious dialogue with the forces of society.”
The BCHR appeals to those concerned in the stability of the situation in Bahrain, and demands the following:
1. To stop all systematic practices of torture by the National Security Apparatus and Criminal Investigations, and to initiate an independent investigation in all subjects of torture and to prosecute the ones caught up in it, and to cure the damages made to the victims of torture.
2. To stop targeting political activists or human rights defenders or trying to ruin their reputation.
3. To refrain from picturing the political tension and country’s crisis as if it were security issues, and the need to stop treating the political issues as security one.
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights – BCHR
9 January 2009