Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): In reality, Bahrain is not a state, for if it was, it wouldn't be possible to have a detainee taken to have a "tour" outside prison around pro-government rallies supporting the ruling Al Khalifa family, so that he would listen to the demonstrators as they chanted "[We want] reprisal...[We want] reprisal."

This is not a figment of imagination but a statement given by a detained activist sentenced to death, Mohammad Ramadan, who the Bahraini authorities accuse of having involvement in a bombing which they claim took place in Al-Dair village on February 14, 2014, leaving a Pakistani policeman dead.

Ramadan is known for his political and social activism. He was arrested in the early morning of February 18, 2014 from his workplace in Bahrain's airport, while militias dressed in civilian clothing raided his home, went through and stole some of his belongings.

For 10 days, his family had no information about his whereabouts or the grounds for his arrest. During this time, he was subjected to "torture that beasts cannot even bear," in the criminal investigations department. He was sexually harassed and his hands were cuffed to his back as he was beaten all over his body by iron rods and wires.

"I was held in an extremely cold room. They didn't allow me to sit and when they sensed I was trying to sit down, they began to beat and curse me [...] I told them I couldn't stand up for long periods of time because I suffer from spinal disc problems but they pressured me even more," said Ramadan.

When he told them he wanted to pray, they sweared at him even more and said: "There is no such thing as prayer and there is no God in this place."
"They used creative methods of torture on me. They beat me on my genitalia, stripped me naked and dragged me on the floor [...] They took me to pro-government rallies and made me listen to demonstrators chant slogans like "[We want] reprisal...[We want] reprisal]," he added.

On February 20, 2014, they informed him that they will take him to the Public Prosecution. They told him to say what they want him to and threatened him with torture if he didn't [...] The prosecution attorney asked him to speak, so Ramadan said: "What story do you want; what they want or the truth?," so he dismissed him from his office.

He was held in a detention center for 12 hours and then was taken to the Al-Riffa' police station. He stayed there during nighttime and was referred to the criminal investigations department during the day to be tortured.

Although he was exposed to all this, the official case documents confirm that Mohammad Ramadan didn't confess to a crime he did not commit, yet the court convicted him based on confessions extracted under torture from the first defendant who was forced, as he claimed previously, by investigators to accuse Ramadan of plotting the alleged bomb attack.

Arabic Issue