14 October 2010
Scholars at Risk (SAR) is gravely concerned about the current treatment of Professor Abdul Jalil Al-Singace, a mechanical engineer at the University of Bahrain in Isa Town, who is being detained by the National Security Apparatus of Bahrain.SAR asks for letters, faxes and emails urging the appropriate authorities to examine the circumstances of Professor Al-Singace’s detention and treatment and ensure his well-being pending his earliest release, including ensuring immediate and regular access to legal counsel of his choosing, to family and to medical treatment.
14 October 2010
Scholars at Risk (SAR) is gravely concerned about the current treatment of Professor Abdul Jalil Al-Singace, a mechanical engineer at the University of Bahrain in Isa Town, who is being detained by the National Security Apparatus of Bahrain.SAR asks for letters, faxes and emails urging the appropriate authorities to examine the circumstances of Professor Al-Singace’s detention and treatment and ensure his well-being pending his earliest release, including ensuring immediate and regular access to legal counsel of his choosing, to family and to medical treatment.
Scholars at Risk is an international network of over 240 universities and colleges in 29 countries dedicated to promoting academic freedom and its constituent freedoms of thought, opinion, expression, association and travel. In cases like Professor Al-Singace’s involving alleged infringement of these freedoms, Scholars at Risk investigates hoping to clarify and resolve matters favorably.
Professor Al-Singace, a scholar of mechanical engineering at the University of Bahrain and Director of the Human Rights Bureau of the Haq Movement for Civil Liberties and Democracy was arrested on August 13, 2010. The arrest followed his August 5th address to the British House of Lords, during which he reported negatively on Bahrain’s human rights situation.
International reports indicate that after several weeks of Professor Al-Singace’s detention in an undisclosed location, his lawyer was finally able to meet with him. Professor Al-Singace’s lawyer reports that Professor Al-Singace has been subjected to severe forms of ill treatment during his detention. The abuse has reportedly included sleep-deprivation and severe physical beatings, which has resulted in partial hearing loss for Professor Al-Singace. In addition, Professor Al-Singace’s wheelchair and crutches have apparently been taken away and detention officials have forced him to crawl back and forth to his cell and stand for long periods of time, even though he is partially paralyzed from poliomyelitis. Professor Al-Singace’s abuse and extended detention without regular access to counsel, family or adequate medical support would appear to constitute a reckless disregard of his health and well-being.
This disregard, coupled with the suddenness and lack of any clear basis for his arrest, raises concerns not only about his situation but about the intimidation of scholars generally in Bahrain and about the ability to conduct world-class research, teaching and scholarship in such an environment. This case appears to involve retaliation against one scholar’s peaceful exercise of fundamental rights, which are guaranteed under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 19 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Bahrain has acceded.
Scholars at Risk therefore joins with the many national and international academic associations, human rights organizations and individual scholars that respectfully urge the government of Bahrain to examine the circumstances of Professor Al-Singace’s detention and treatment and pending his earliest release, to intervene to ensure his well-being, including ensuring immediate and regular access to legal counsel of his choosing, to family and to medical treatment.
Scholars at Risk invites letters, emails and faxes be sent:
-respectfully calling on authorities to ensure that Bahrain’s obligations under international law are upheld with regard to Professor Al-Singace;
-respectfully calling on the authorities to examine the circumstances of Professor Al-Singace’s treatment and detention; and
-respectfully calling on authorities to intervene to ensure his well-being, including ensuring immediate and regular access to legal counsel of his choosing, to family and to medical treatment.
PLEASE WRITE TO:
His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa
Prime Minister
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
P.O. Box 547
Government Road
Manama
Kingdom of Bahrain
Fax: +973 1-753-6343
Email: info@mofa.gov.bh
His Majesty Shaikh Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa
King of Bahrain
Office of His Majesty the King
P. O. Box 555
Rifa’a Palace, Kingdom of Bahrain
Fax: + 973 1-766-8884
COPIES TO:
His Excellency Dr. Majid Bin Ali Al Nuaimi
Minister of Education
Ministry of Education Building
Al Istiklal Street
P.O. Box 43
Isa City
Bahrain
Fax: +973 1-768-7866
Email: moe.relations@bahrain.gov.bh
The Honorable _________
Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to [YOUR COUNTRY]
[POSTAL ADDRESS]
[FAX]
[EMAIL]
(See http://www.mofa.gov.bh/ for a list of Bahraini embassies worldwide.)
The Honorable _________
Ambassador of [YOUR COUNTRY] to the Kingdom of Bahrain
[POSTAL ADDRESS]
[FAX]
[EMAIL]
Scholars at Risk
c/o New York University
194 Mercer St., 4th floor
New York, NY 10012 USA
Fax: +1 212-995-4402
Email: scholarsatrisk@nyu.edu
To view a model letter of appeal as well as a copy of SAR’s letter, please visit our website: www.scholarsatrisk.org.