العربية
The United Nations Committee against Torture called on Friday (May 12, 2017) Bahrain to release prominent activist Nabeel Rajab from more than nine months of solitary confinement and investigate widespread allegations of ill-treatment and torture of detainees.
The United Nations panel, composed of 10 independent experts, conducted its first review of Bahrain’s record in five years at a session ending on Friday.
The UN experts, in their findings, urged authorities to “put an end to the solitary confinement of Mr. Nabeel Rajab and ensure that he is provided with adequate medical assistance and redress”. His solitary confinement “is reported to have exceeded nine months during which he has been denied adequate medical care”.
The UN experts cited “continued, numerous and consistent allegations of widespread torture and ill-treatment of persons deprived of their liberty in all places of detention” in Bahrain. A “climate of impunity” seemed to be prevailing, with few convictions and light sentences, they said.
The panel voiced concern at reports of coerced confessions obtained under torture, including those of three men executed in January and two men facing the death penalty, Mohammed Ramadhan and Hussain Ali Moosa. The panel suggested that the latter be retried.
It also said that Bahrain should ensure that people arrested on criminal charges, including under the terror act, be brought before a judge within 48 hours.
Authorities should also consider repealing provisions that allow civilians to be tried in military courts and improve conditions, especially in Jaw prison where inmates rioted in January. “Authorities can take reasonable measures to prevent escapes, but shackling infirm patients, many of them torture victims, clearly goes beyond any need for security,” it said.