HRW calls on Bahrain to take 'urgent steps' to address hunger-striking prisoners' grievances

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on Bahrain to take "urgent steps" to address hundreds of hunger-striking prisoners' grievances.

The Gulf monarchy should also release anyone serving a jail sentence solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, beginning with rights defenders Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and Abduljalil Al-Singace, HRW said.

The US-based rights group said over 400 inmates held at Jau prison, the largest jail in Bahrain, began a hunger strike on 7 August to "protest abysmal detention conditions and denial of health care".

As of Wednesday, there were over 800 participants, according to the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), though the government puts the figure much lower.

"Many of the inmates on hunger strike in Jau prison are being held after grossly unfair trials and have experienced years of abuse in custody," said HRW Bahrain researcher Niku Jafarnia.

"Bahraini authorities need to ensure humane detention conditions and immediately release those unjustly imprisoned."

Some inmates told BIRD on 21 August that jail authorities continue to subject prisoners to inhumane treatment and deny them access to appropriate health care.

In some cases, inmates at Jau are being kept in their cells for 23 hours a day.

Prisoners are urging an end to extended solitary confinement, more than an hour a day outside their cells in the yard, congregational prayer at the jail mosque, family visits without glass barriers and needed access to health care.

Inmates like Al-Khawaja and Al-Singace have said jail authorities refuse them crucial medicines and won't refer them to specialists.

Al-Khawaja is a co-founder of two human rights centres and was arrested in 2011 for involvement in pro-democracy protests.

He was given a life sentence after what HRW called a "grossly unfair trial".

Since 9 August, he has been on hunger strike consuming only water to demand access to specialist care, HRW cited his daughter Maryam as saying.

The rights group said he has experienced "severe physical, sexual and psychological torture" during his 12 years behind bars.

It added that he was been repeatedly denied essential health care, even though he has life-threatening cardiac issues.

His daughter said Al-Khawaja's health has seriously declined in recent months.

An independent doctor consulting for the family said he may only have a few days to live because of his worsening condition, chronic health problems and the risk of a sudden, deadly cardiac arrest.

Fellow prisoner Al-Singace, an academic and rights defender, was also given life for involvement in the 2011 protests.

He has been on hunger strike refusing solid food since 8 July 2021 over the confiscation his handwritten notes.

He has been suffering from prostate issues, reduced eyesight and other problems.

🚨Hundreds of prisoners are on hunger strike in #Bahrain, including pro-democracy HRD Abdulhadi Alkhawaja.

His life is in danger and we call for his, and others imprisoned for their human rights work, to be immediately released.

Take action now: https://t.co/hOjPPEUOpm pic.twitter.com/1CUA2A7ucg

— Front Line Defenders (@FrontLineHRD) August 28, 2023

Rights groups and families of detainees said on Thursday that the hunger-striking prisoners at Jau had rejected government concessions.

The interior ministry said on Monday that it planned to double the daily outdoor time to two hours, increase the duration of family visits and review rates for phone calls.

Bahraini authorities deny targeting the political opposition and say they are protecting national security.

They have said they prosecute in accordance with international law those who commit crimes and have rejected criticism over the conduct of trials and detention conditions.

The government also puts the number of prisoners on hunger strike far lower than BIRD's figure. Reuters reported on Thursday that the General Directorate of Reform and Rehabilitation had said in an emailed statement that the number of detainees who have reported being on hunger strike "is 121 and at no point was it over 124".

Jafarnia, the HRW researcher, said: "The international community, and especially states with close ties with Bahrain, should use their diplomatic standing to press Bahraini authorities to end their abusive treatment of prisoners.

"Other countries should not simply remain silent when over 800 prisoners in Bahrain, many of whom should never have been in prison to begin with, have put their lives on the line."

Reuters contributed to this story.