Bahrain Mirror: The Bahrain Forum for Human Rights (BFHR) said that the National Institute for Human Rights (NIHR) is lying about what it said regarding addressing the case of torture victim Hussein Ali Khamis in its statement yesterday.

The BFHR noted in a statement on Thursday (July 11, 2019) that the victim contacted the NIHR several times to register a complaint about what he has been subjected to, but it imposed an impossible condition on him, which is providing a medical report from the health center affiliated with the Ministry of Interior (Al-Qalaa). The Jaw Prison administration refused this request and stalled a lot. "Does the NIHR expect that the security officers who are amused by the deterioration of the victim's health by calling him crazy can provide him with what facilitates granting him his right to the appropriate and necessary treatment?" the BFHR asked.

"The NIHR also did this with one of the family members of Hussein Khamis when he called it several times," the BFHR added.

"While the NIHR boasts about its electronic communication applications, it has not bothered itself to contact the prison administration or go there for fact-finding. Instead, it did what it does best, circumventing and sugar-coating and denying violations whenever complaints of torture are repeated," the BFHR further said. How did it not do so while head of the NIHR, Maria Khoury, told Bahrain's Al-Watan newspaper on June 23 that "There is no torture in prisons and places of detention in Bahrain," despite the condemnation of continued torture by many international human rights organizations, and mainly UN experts.

The BFHR pointed out that the case of torture victim Hussein Ali Khamis requires an extensive investigation into the abuses he suffered.

The forum concluded "Such statements issued by the NIHR tell those who mistreat Hussein Khamis to keep humiliating him and amusing themselves by denying him treatment. In addition, these statements strongly support those who practice torture in prisons to continue and even develop these bad practices, which explains the NIHR's constant failure in earning 'A' status of accreditation."

Arabic Version