Bahrain Mirror: Amnesty International, in its Spanish version, specialized a paper on one of the political prisoners, the Bahraini Hassan Mushaima. Amnesty described him as one of the prominent detainees in the world, noting that he is suffering in the Bahrain regime prisons.

The report highlighted that Hassan Mushaima has spent 3,730 days in prison without counting previous arrests. It also points to his leading role in the peaceful protests during the Arab Spring in Bahrain.

Amnesty International stressed that Hassan Mushaima's condition is urgent and cannot wait and is an occasion to continue defending his freedom and human rights in international forums.

The report confirms that Bahrain is not one of the countries that acquires much attention on human rights violations, but the dire and aggravating human rights situation started to raise concerns, thanks to the great role of human rights activists in Bahrain and abroad.

Prior to his participation in the Formula One car race, world champion Lewis Hamilton spoke about the ongoing violations of human rights in Bahrain. A previous international move contributed to the release of political detainees such as Nabeel Rajab and Najah Youssef. However, the releases did not reach Hassan Mushaima, 73, who was sentenced to prison for his participation in the 2011 pro-democracy protests. The authorities arrested him in 1995 following a peaceful protest, which was the beginning of his political and human rights activities. He was subsequently arrested again and spent five years in prison.

He was chosen as the Secretary-General of the Al-Wefaq" society in 2002 and Secretary- General of the Al-Haq Movement in 2005.

After the outbreak of the uprisings demanding freedom and democracy in the context of the Arab Spring, he was arrested again and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Movements and pressures for Mushaima's release are growing. Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain and the European Center for Democracy and Human Rights have established a digital website on the Internet to publicize the developments of his case and defend the restoration of his freedom.

Along with other organizations, Amnesty International and Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain were among signatories on a letter addressed to the Bahraini government calling for the release of Hassan Mushaima and providing him with medical care, especially as he has cancer and suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure.

Concerns over his health increased after the Coronavirus outbreak in Jaw Prison, where he is being held. Jaw Prison embraces a large number of political prisoners and lacks safety and hygiene conditions.  

It is worth noting that Mushaima's health condition is not only due to illness and absence of medical care, but also due to the torture and ill-treatment he was subjected to, including religious discrimination.

The European Parliament had recently approved a resolution alerting the serious health situation in Bahrain's prisons, in addition to ill-treatment, discrimination and degrading treatment of detainees and called on the Bahraini authorities to correct this situation by releasing the detainees.

Arabic Version