Bahrain Mirror: Political detainees at Jaw Central Prison said the prison administration officially prevented them from commemorating Ashura rituals on the grounds of "irregularities".

Prisoner of conscience Hussein Hilal Ahmed said in a phone call on (Friday, July 29, 2022) that although Bahrain claims to protect religious freedoms, it informed us in Building 7 (formerly Building 15) that we are not allowed to practice our religious rituals.

He explained that the ban was announced by a number of officers, most notably "Al-Rowai" and "Ahmed Al-Amadi", and the ban was due to what they called "the existence of some irregularities".

The detainee pointed out that this ban was not the first and that the same thing happened in the past months, so Building 7 inmates organized a peaceful sit-in inside the prison and refused to enter their cells. The prison police threatened to use force with them if they didn't disperse the sit-in. After they dispersed the sit-in, the inmates were punished by limiting the time of every prison cell in the outer yard to 20 minutes only, and if they remained longer than allowed, the entire cell would be punished and prevented from going out.

Detainee Ousama Al-Saghir confirmed in a phone call that they are prevented from practicing religious rituals, stressing that political prisoners are "sectarian targeted" and the official media is a partner in persecution and in covering up the systematic violations practiced against them.

Another prisoner of conscience detainee called everyone who claims that prisoners are exercising their rights to come to Building 7 in Jaw Central Prison to see with their own eyes the abuses and contempt for religious rites.

Arabic Version