Bahrain Mirror: The director of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei said on his Twitter account that Bahraini prisoners Naji Fateel and Ali Haji were released from solitary confinement, after they were punished following a video recording that was widely circulated, showing their sufferings in prison and denial of treatment by the administration of Jaw Central Prison.

Alwadaei said that Fateel and Haji were subjected to psychological torture during solitary confinement, adding that they suffered from the lack of drinking water, lack of personal hygiene products and since they were deprived from showering. He went on to say that they were held in a dirty environment inside the solitary cell infested with insects and rodents, and flooding with sewage water leakage. Prisoner guards also deliberately woke them up during their sleep at night.

Alwadaei further stated that in the cell near Ali Haji's cell, prisoner Ahmad Saeed is being held, who is in a deteriorating psychological state since he has been held in solitary confinement for 32 days, adding that Saeed is in a deplorable state. "He has lost control over himself. He no longer can use the bathroom or eat by himself, and despite his difficult health and psychological condition, he has been put in a cell with another prisoner suffering from a mental illness," stressed Alwadaei.

After their return to their prison block with their fellow inmates, Ali Haji and Naji Fateel began a hunger strike on Thursday and wrote their demands clearly to the prison administration. These demands include: access to full health care, family visits without glass barriers, and access to postal mail.

Arabic Version