Torture in Bahrain - Revival of The Use of Torture After 2007

Revival of The Use of Torture After 2007

A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, "Torture Redux: The Revival of Physical Coercion during Interrogations in Bahrain", published in February 2010, concluded that although serious and systemic reports of torture and other ill-treatment in detention in Bahrain that were routine between 1975 and 1999 had become rare after 1999 (albeit serious abuse by security forces during arrests continued), reports of the use of torture and ill-treatment increased again after the end of 2007, coinciding with rising political tension and street demonstrations against discrimination against members of the majority Shi'a community. HRW found that government officials appeared to be using a "repertoire" of techniques to cause pain and elicit confessions from security suspects. These included "the use of electro-shock devices, suspension in painful positions, beating the soles of the feet (falaka), and beatings of the head, torso, and limbs", as well as threats to kill detainees or rape them or members of their families, in violation of Bahrain’s obligations as a state party to the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Convention against Torture) and other international treaties and as the prohibition of torture in Bahraini law.

During opposition street protests in Shi'a neighbourhoods and villages around Manama in December 2007 a protestor was allegedly asphyxiated by tear gas and confrontations, provoking further confrontations with security forces. Following an incident in the village of Jidhafs Bahraini human rights activists reported claims by detainees of severe beatings, electric shock, prolonged suspension in painful positions and other forms of abuse amounting to torture or other illegal treatment. These claims were officially denied.

Detainees arrested in March and April 2008 following clashes in and around the village of Karzakan that had resulted in the death of a National Security Agency (NSA) officer in disputed circumstances also alleged torture and ill-treatment. Detainees arrested in December 2008 who were alleged by the authorities to have been trained in the use of explosives and sabotage techniques or to have been recruited by the opposition Haq Movement for Liberty and Democracy to encourage violent unrest also complained of being subjected to torture and ill-treatment. When they were brought to court medical examinations of a number of detainees found evidence of injuries consistent with the detainees’ allegations.

In a letter to Bahrain's Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid bin ‘Abdullah bin Ahmad Al Khalifa, Amnesty International (AI) called for an urgent and independent investigation into allegations that soon after their arrest in December 2008 13 individuals held incommunicado at the headquarters of the National Security Apparatus in Manama were tortured with electric shocks and beatings and by being suspended by the wrists for long periods. The detainees were reported to have been transferred to the "Dry Dock" Prison (the Ministry of Interior’s Short-Term Detention Unit) only after they had made “confessions”. AI called for any officials found responsible for torture or other serious abuses to be brought to justice.

On 11 April 2009, an informal royal "pardon" was granted to 178 detainees whose sentences or trials were suspended. HRW interviewed a number of the released detainees about their treatment in detention and under interrogation (some refused to speak to HRW - human rights and opposition activists claimed that former detainees had been warned against speaking to investigators or the media). Most claimed to have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment at the Ministry of Interior’s General Directorate of Criminal Investigation (CID) headquarters in Adliya, in Manama, at the Ministry of Interior’s "Dry Dock" Short-Term Detention Unit and possibly at the offices of the NSA.

The Ministry of the Interior and the National Security Agency both report to the Supreme Defense Council, headed by the prime minister and all of whose members are members of the royal family.

In a number of cases prosecutors had failed to record complaints, order medical examinations or investigate allegations, and sometimes returned detainees to the security officers allegedly responsible for the ill-treatment.

The Ministry of the Interior and the Public Prosecution Office denied that torture had been used and asserted that the claims had been fabricated. Human Rights Watch found the accounts credible and the medical reports of government doctors and court documents corroborated the allegations. (HRW noted that corroboration of torture and ill-treatment by government doctors marked a major improvement from the pre-1999 era of routine torture when few examinations were carried out and doctors were intimidated to prevent them corroborating abuse.)

HRW wrote to the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of the Interior asking detailed questions about government policies concerning torture and ill-treatment but received no response. HRW also called on the United States, France, and the United Kingdom, countries with significant security links to Bahrain, to urge the government of Bahrain to take immediate and measurable steps to end the use of torture by its security forces. As France and the United Kingdom provide the NSA and the Ministry of Interior, respectively, with training and assistance they "risk being implicated in prohibited practices and violating their own legal obligations if they cooperate with law enforcement forces they know or should know are employing torture or other ill-treatment".