Bahrain Mirror: 32 British MPs have so far signed a petition deploring the degrading treatment of political prisoner and criticizing the ongoing arrest of Bahraini opposition leaders who were subjected to torture and unlawfully convicted by a military court in 2011.

The signatories expressed further concern that the UK has provided over £5 million in technical assistance programs to Bahrain to train human rights oversight bodies, which appear to have systematically failed to investigate thoroughly human rights abuses and whitewashed torture in Bahraini prisons.

The petition urges the Government to suspend the program until Bahrain abides by its international human rights obligations, including the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners; and calls for the immediate release of all political prisoners, including the Bahrain 13. It also expresses concern about the arbitrary and extrajudicial arrest of 13 Bahraini opposition leaders who were subjected to torture and unlawfully convicted by a military court in 2011.

It condemns the deliberate targeting of Hassan Mushaima, who is being denied unconditional access to medical care, family visits and books and notes with dismay that detained leaders Abduljalil Al-Singace and Abdulwahab Husain are victims of similar punitive measures.

The MPs said they are concerned that the violations of Mr. Mushaima's rights have caused his son to launch a hunger strike outside the Bahraini Embassy, and that the political prisoner Ali Hajji is also on a hunger strike to protest degrading treatment in Jaw prison.

The petition deplores the degrading treatment of political prisoners in Bahrain and inhuman conditions of detention facilities as described by the UN Human Rights Committee in July 2018, particularly in Jaw prison, including unsanitary conditions, severe overcrowding, inadequate access to drinking water and unhygienic toilet facilities.

Arabic Version