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Today, activists and NGO representatives gathered outside the Bahraini Embassy in London to mark the 11-year anniversary of the conviction and sentencing of high-profile Bahraini opposition figures and human rights defenders, to protest their ongoing arbitrary imprisonment and call for their release.
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The event also came ahead of the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, on 26 June 2022, highlighting the imminent risks faced by prisoners like Mohammed Ramadhan and Husain Moosa, who were convicted and sentenced to death on the basis of a ‘confession’ obtained through torture following their attendance at peaceful, pro-democracy protests. Despite the UN human rights watchdog calling for their immediate release and for them to be afforded compensation, they face imminent execution by firing squad.
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Speakers included Katie Fallon, Campaign Against the Arms Trade, Daniel Gorman, Director of English PEN, Melanie Gingell from the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, Jawaid Fairuz of Salam for Democracy and exiled Bahraini activist Ali Mushaima, with the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) moderating the event.
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The cases of Hasan Mushaima, Abdulhadi AlKhawaja and Dr Abduljalil AlSingace, who has been on hunger strike for almost 1 year demanding the return of his arbitrarily confiscated research, were highlighted during the event as attendees called for their immediate and unconditional release.
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Alistair Carmichael MP could not be in attendance due to an urgent matter but sent speaking notes read out by BIRD where he expressed his solidarity with all political prisoners in Bahrain, highlighting the UK’s failure to call for the release of the political leaders arbitrarily imprisoned and deemed prisoners of conscience despite condemning their sentencing by a military court in 2011.
