On 10 April 2025, family members of Bahraini political prisoners sent an open letter to F1 CEO, teams and drivers urging them to raise their plight during the Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend.
Dear F1 CEO, Teams, and Drivers,
We are families of political prisoners in Bahrain — many of whom have been imprisoned since 2011 following the uprising demanding democratic rights. That was the year the F1 race was canceled due to a bloody government crackdown during which hundreds were tortured and sentenced after unfair trials.
We fear that publishing our names will expose us to reprisals against both our families and our imprisoned loved ones. Yet, we implore you not to turn a blind eye to the injustice being inflicted on Bahrain’s people. The sport must be a force for good rather than an endorsement of repression.
Over the past week, the situation has worsened. Authorities have cut telephone access for some prisoners and placed at least twelve in solitary confinement. The recent Eid prisoner release excluded political prisoners, clearly discriminating against them.
As of now, over 360 political prisoners remain, with twelve facing imminent execution. A report from Human Rights Watch and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy examined eight death row cases and found that these sham trials featured severe breaches of international law, with confessions allegedly coerced through torture and ill-treatment. The report documented that many prisoners were subjected to electrical shocks to the chest and genitals, sleep deprivation, beatings, and even attempted rape. Their trials cannot be considered fair, but they have exhausted all legal remedies and, with a stroke of King Hamad’s pen, they will be executed.
Leading rights activist Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, for example, has vowed to launch a hunger strike after authorities canceled his video calls — his only effective means of communication with his daughters residing abroad. Similarly, Dr. Abduljalil Alsingace has been on a sustained hunger strike for over three years in protest of the confiscation of his handwritten manuscript. Along with Hasan Mushaima, 77, Bahrain’s longest-held political prisoner, he has been denied sunlight exposure and confined to his cell for more than three years, all while being systematically denied proper medical care even in a facility equipped for special treatment.
We appeal specifically to Stefano Domenicali — whose close relationship with the Bahraini Crown Prince, as well as that of McLaren’s Zak Brown, Andrea Stella, and driver Lando Norris — to use your leverage to urge the Crown Prince to end the injustices endured by our loved ones in Bahraini jails and to press for their immediate release. Our previous attempts to engage with his office have fallen on deaf ears.
We commend Sir Lewis Hamilton for taking a principled stand in previous years and urge him to continue speaking out against these injustices.
