Bahrain Mirror: The parents of prisoners, Ali Al-Arab and Ahmad Al-Malali, who are sentenced to death, said they had received phone calls from the Jaw Central Prison administration informing them that they have an unscheduled private visit with their sons, which raised concerns that the authorities would soon execute the death sentence.

Prominent rights activist Ebtisam Al-Sayegh said the visits were scheduled for Friday, July 26, 2019: Ahmed Al-Malali's visit at 2 pm and Ali Al-Arab's visit at 5:30 pm.

According to Al-Sayegh, the police officer who contacted them told them that any member of the family could attend the visit, so 25 members of Al-Malali's family attended to see him, while 15 members of Al-Arab's family were allowed to include their names for the visit.

Communications from Jaw Central Prison (Building 1, Building 12, Building 13) were cut off since 11 am, which coincided with a wide security alert during visiting hours.

The families fear that the reason for this special visit is the King's approval of the death penalty and the imminent execution of the prisoners.

The two families actually visited the prisoners for about an hour and a half and noted that there were strict security measures during the visit. They said the visit took place amid large security presence of riot police and women's police, adding that they allowed every five people to enter separately.

SALAM for Human Rights highlighted that "the prisoners sentenced to death were not informed about an implementation of the death penalty," but noted that the procedures for the execution of the death sentences of three political prisoners in 2017 was done in the same way.

"A Yemeni police officer said that he told the father of Ahmad Al-Malali, say goodbye to your son as there are only 15 minutes left of the visit," stated human rights defender, member of Bahrain Human Rights Society Zainab Al-Khamis.

Arabic Version