Female Detainees’ Response to the Statement Issued by the National Institute for Human Rights (NIHR)

4 October 2018 – Yesterday, the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) received a phone call from Isa Town Prison. In this phone call, inmates Hajer Mansoor, Medina Ali and Najah Yusuf provided their own statement in response to the misleading one issued by the National Institute for Human Rights (NIHR) on 1 October 2018. In their statement, the NIHR denied that the abuse and reprisals suffered by the three women on 16 October ever occurred.

BIRD provides below a coherent English translation of the statement, followed by the original transcript in Arabic for reference.

English Translation of the Statement:

“We, the inmates Najah, Hajer and Medina, would like to respond to the statement issued by the National Institute for Human Rights (NIHR). The NIHR met with the three of us together on Sunday 30 September 2018 in the interrogation room. The CCTV cameras were on and can corroborate our statements.

Regarding the NIHR’s claims that we are not being denied our right to participation in commemorative religious [Ashura] rites: The camera [CCTV] recording would show that at the time of the commemoration [rites] on the evening of 16 September, the cell doors were closed to deny us from participating in the [religious] readings [taking place] in cell No.4. The following day, the ceremony continued in the kitchen.

We would also like to point out that the requests we discussed with the NIHR on 12 August 2018 [i.e. the previous visit conducted by the NIHR] were never addressed by the organisation. Our new requests prioritise communication with our families, [specifically]  the barriers in the visitation room. We are mothers, we have children and families, we need to feel that maternal affection and tenderness from them. We are supposedly in a “Reform and Rehabilitation Centre”, and these requests should be part of their objectives.

In short, our response to the NIHR statement is that: Maria Khoury was rushed in her meeting with us; she only put on a facade of credibility and transparency. Maria Khoury falsified the facts in her statement and stood with the Bahraini authorities against human rights.

Therefore, we reiterate our urgent call for the intervention of the international organisations and UN special rapporteurs to stop the violations we are subjected to, and to expose the falsity of the human rights organisations and institutions that follow the regime in Bahrain.”

Issued by detainees

Najah Ahmed Habib

Hajar Mansoor

Medina Ali

Isa Town Prison Women Detention Centre, Bahrain

Wednesday, 3 October 2018

Original Statement in Arabic:

 

بيان من المعتقلات ردا على بيان المؤسسة الوطنية لحقوق الإنسان 

نحن المعتقلات الثلاث نجاح، هاجر و مدينة  نردّ على المؤسسة الوطنية لحقوق الإنسان التي اجتمعت بنا نحن الثلاثة في وقتٍ واحد يوم الأحد الموافق 30 سبتمبر 2018م في غرفة الاستدلالات، علماً أن كاميرات المراقبة تُثبت صحّة ما نقول.

وبالنسبة لادعائهم عدم حرماننا المشاركة في إحياء الشعائر الدينيّة؛ نقول: يمكنكم الرجوع إلى كاميرا المراقبة أيضاً، ومشاهدة الحرمان بإغلاق أبواب الزنزانات في وقت الإحياء منذ تاريخ 16 سبتمبر مساءا للقراءة في زنزانة رقم (4)، واليوم التالي بدأ الإحياء في المطبخ.

كما تطرّقنا إلى الطلبات القديمة التي تمّت مناقشتها مع المؤسسة بتاريخ 12 أغسطس ولم يتم حلّها.

أما عن الطلبات الجديدة، وأهمها نظام الاتصال، وغرف الزيارة بحاجز؛ فنحن أمهات ولدينا أبناء وعوائل، ولدينا حاجة لمشاعر الأمومة والحنان، ونحن في مركز “إصلاح وتأهيل”، ويُفترض أن يكون ذلك جزءا من أهدافهم.

هذا باختصار ردّنا على بيان المؤسسة الوطنية وعلى ماريا خوري التي اجتمعت بنا على عجالةٍ، وبشكل صوري، لتنقل بلا مصداقية أو شفافية ما دار في الاجتماع، وعمدت إلى تزييف الحقائق في بيانها، والوقوف مع السلطات ضد الإنسانية.

وعليه، فإننا نكرّر نداءنا بشكل عاجل لتدخّل المنظمات والمقررين الأمميين لوقف الانتهاكات التي نتعرّض لها، وكشف زيْف المؤسسات والهيئات الحقوقية التابعة  للنظام في البحرين.

صادر عن المعتقلات

         نجاح أحمد حبيب

         مدينة علي

هاجر منصور

 سجن مدينة عيسى للنساء – البحرين

الأربعاء  ٣ أكتوبر 2018م

 

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