03 Apr 24 | Bahrain, News and features, Statements
King of Bahrain, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa,
Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa,
Your Majesties,
We, the undersigned, call your immediate attention to the deteriorating health of award-winning academic, blogger, and human rights defender Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace, who marks 1,000 days on a liquids-only hunger strike on April 3, 2024. We urge you to take action to immediately release Al-Singace, who is wrongfully detained, and ensure that he receives the healthcare he urgently needs.
Al-Singace began his hunger strike on July 8, 2021, in response to prison authorities’ confiscation of his manuscript on Bahraini dialects of Arabic that he spent four years researching and writing. During his hunger strike, he has been sustaining himself only on multivitamin liquid supplements, tea with milk and sugar, water, and salts.
Al-Singace, who has a disability, has been wrongfully detained since his arrest in 2011 solely for exercising his human rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. He has reportedly been subject to torture during his time in detention.*
Since July 2021, according to UN experts, “Mr Al-Singace has been held in a state of isolation likely amounting to solitary confinement” within his room at Kanoo Medical Centre, where he has said that he has been prohibited from going outside, having exposure to direct sunlight, and receiving the adequate physiotherapy required for his disability. According to his family, he has also been deprived of necessary examinations and medical information, including results from MRI scans of his shoulder and head from October 2021. He has been denied treatment for several medical issues, including inflamed joints, impaired vision, enlarged prostate, and tremors.
Authorities continue to deny him medical items that doctors requested, including slippers to prevent slipping in the bathroom and a hot water bottle to relieve pain in his joints. Authorities have also limited his access to information by banning English and Arabic newspapers and restricting accessible TV channels. On January 21, 2024, Al-Singace’s family told the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy that they were subjected to harsh measures during visitations, which Al-Singace believes constituted a deliberate attempt to pressure him into declining visitations altogether.
On April 17, 2023, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Gerard Quinn said that “as a human rights defender with a disability in detention, Al-Singace faces additional risks. He should be given frequent medical check-ups, afforded reasonable accommodation for his disability, with assistive technologies and other specialized care and considerations. But the Bahraini authorities have not always
allowed him this.”
We echo the “concern at the continuation of the violations perpetrated against Al-Singace” raised by a group of three UN special rapporteurs in September 2023, who also noted their previous communications regarding Al-Singace’s case, sent on December 30, 2021 and November 15, 2021.
We follow up on our July 11, 2023 call for your intervention and urge you to release Al-Singace immediately and unconditionally. In the meantime, we urge you to ensure that he is held in conditions that meet international standards, receives his medication without delay, has access to adequate healthcare in compliance with medical ethics, and that his arbitrarily confiscated research is immediately transferred to his family members.
Sincerely,
1. Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD)
2. ALQST for Human Rights
3. Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHBR)
4. ARTICLE 19
5. Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR)
6. BRISMES (British Society Middle East Studies) Campaigns
7. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
8. Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
9. Democracy for Arab World Now (DAWN)
10. English PEN
11. Fair Square
12. Femena
13. FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights), within the framework of the Observatory for
the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
14. Freedom House
15. Front Line Defenders
16. Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)
17. Human Rights First
18. Human Rights Watch (HRW)
19. Index on Censorship
20. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
21. MENA Rights Group
22. Middle East Democracy Center (MEDC)
23. PEN America
24. PEN International
25. Rafto Foundation for Human Rights
26. Redress
27. Scholars at Risk
28. World organisation against torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights
* The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) adopted an opinion on Dr. Al-Singace’s case during its ninety-sixth session on 27 March – 5 April 2023. The WGAD “considers that the source has presented a credible prima facie case that Mr. Al-Singace suffered torture and ill-treatment”, and that his arrest was unlawful, and finds that he was “subjected to enforced disappearance”.
21 Mar 16 | Awards, Azerbaijan, Europe and Central Asia
Blogger and human rights activist Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace has been in prison in Bahrain since 2010. He was arrested at Bahrain International Airport after returning from London, where he had been testifying to the House of Lords about Bahrain’s human rights practices. A security official stated that Al-Singace had “abused the freedom of opinion and expression prevailing in the kingdom”. After being held in solitary confinement for six months, Al-Singace was briefly released in February 2011 before being rearrested in March.
“I saw them drag him in his underwear and without his glasses, with a gun pointed at his head,” a relative said of the arrest. He was taken to a detention center where he was blindfolded, handcuffed and beaten. On 22 June 2011 a military court sentenced Al-Singace to life imprisonment.
Al-Singace is one of 13 leading human rights and political activists arrested in the same period, subjected to torture, and sentenced in the same case, known as the “Bahrain 13”. All 13 are all serving their prison sentences in the Central Jau Prison.
“The group is more like a family now,” said a member of Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace’s family, who asked to remain unnamed due to pressure the family continue to face from authorities. “They went through similar conditions of the arrest and torture, and they all suffered a lot because of their opinions and because of expressing their opinion.”
Last year Al-Singace went on hunger strike to protest the treatment of prisoners in Bahrain. Al-Singace, suffers from polio in his left leg and various other health issues, was held in solitary confinement in a windowless room in Al-Qalaa hospital and has denied any form of media or writing materials.
“Being alone in solitary confinement in that small room, not being allowed to watch TV or to talk to other patients or have books, it didn’t break anything in him,” said the family member. “I think it made him stronger. He was always positive during the whole period.”
Al-Singace’s hunger strike lasted for 313 days.
“He inspires everyone. Even when he was very weak during the strike, he was the one who was inspiring us. We felt stronger with his strength despite that his body was very weak and he was shivering, but he has this very, very positive strong spirit.”
And the situation in Bahrain at the moment?
“It is still difficult. There are still people being arrested, children being arrested, nationalities being revoked. It’s still very complicated and very difficult. You still see police cars and checkpoints especially in the villages or in the openings of the villages, the entrances. It’s still very difficult in Bahrain.”
19 Jan 16 | Bahrain, Bahrain Statements, Campaigns, Statements
NGOs from the around the world call for the immediate release of prisoner of conscience Dr. Abduljalil al-Singace on his 300th day of hunger strike. Dr. al-Singace began his hunger strike in March 2015 as a response to police subjecting inmates at the Central Jau Prison to collective punishment, humiliation and torture.
Since 21 March 2015, Dr. al-Singace has foregone food and subsisted on water and IV fluid injections for sustenance. Days later, Jau prison authorities transferred him to the Qalaa hospital, where he is still being kept in a form of solitary confinement.
Dr. al-Singace’s family, who visited him on 7 January, state that the prison administration is controlling his treatment at Qalaa hospital, and has for five months continuously, denied his need for a physical checkup by his hematologist at Salmaniya Medical Complex.
According to Dr. al-Singace’s family, he is not allowed to walk outside. He remains isolated in the Qalaa hospital, and is provided only irregular contact with his family. He is frequently denied basic hygienic items including soap, and is not allowed to interact with other patients in the hospital.
Dr. al-Singace is a member of the Bahrain 13, a group of thirteen peaceful political activists and human rights defenders, including Ebrahim Sharif and Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, sentenced to prison terms for their peaceful role in Bahrain’s Arab Spring protests in 2011.
Dr. al-Singace was first arrested in August 2010 at Bahrain airport. He had just returned from a conference at the British House of Lords regarding human rights in Bahrain. Security forces detained Dr. al-Singace for six months, during which he was tortured, and released him in February 2011 during the height of protests. However, Dr. al-Singace was rearrested on 17 March 2011, after his participation in peaceful pro-democracy protests. In detention, officers blindfolded, handcuffed, and beat Dr. al-Singace in the head with their fists and batons. Officers threatened him and his family with reprisals.
On 22 June 2011, a military court sentenced Dr. al-Singace to life for attempted overthrow of the regime. Since then, he has been imprisoned in the Central Jau Prison, and has only recently received treatment for a nose injury sustained during torture. He has been denied treatment for a similar ear injury also sustained during torture since his incarceration.
In 2015, Dr. al-Singace was awarded the Liu Xiaobo Courage to Write Award by the Independent Chinese PEN Centre, and was named one of Index on Censorship’s 100 “free expression heroes” in 2016. He has long campaigned for an end to torture and political reform, writing on these and other subjects on his blog, Al-Faseela, which remains banned by Bahraini Internet Service Providers. Bahrain has become a dangerous place for those who speak out, with peaceful dissidents at risk of arbitrary arrests, systematic torture and unfair trial.
We, the undersigned NGOs, call on the government of Bahrain to immediately secure the release of Dr. al-Singace and all prisoners of conscience, and to provide all appropriate and necessary medical treatment for Dr. al-Singace.
Signatories:
Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB)
ARTICLE 19
Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR)
Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD)
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
Croatian PEN
Danish PEN
English PEN
European Center for Democracy and Human Rights (ECDHR)
FIDH, within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
Ghanaian PEN
Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)
Icelandic PEN
Index on Censorship
Italian PEN
Norwegian PEN
PEN America
PEN Bangladesh
PEN Bolivia
PEN Canada
PEN Català
PEN Center Argentina
PEN Center USA
PEN Centre of German Speaking Writers Abroad
PEN Eritrea in Exile
PEN Flander
PEN Germany
PEN International
PEN Netherlands
PEN New Zealand
PEN Québéc
PEN Romania
PEN South Africa
PEN Suisse Romand
Peruvian PEN
Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF)
San Miguel PEN
Scholars at Risk
Scottish PEN
Serbian PEN
Trieste PEN
Wales PEN Cymru
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
Zambian PEN
27 Aug 15 | Bahrain, Bahrain Statements, Statements
Bahraini prisoner of conscience Dr Abduljalil al-Singace today hits a milestone 160 days of hunger strike as rights organisations appeal for his freedom. Forty-one international NGOs today released an urgent appeal addressed to the Government of Bahrain to release the hunger striker.
Release Prisoner of Conscience Dr Abduljalil al-Singace as Hunger Strike Reaches 160th Day
On 21 March 2015, Dr al-Singace went on hunger strike in protest at the collective punishment and acts of torture that police inflicted upon prisoners following a riot in Jau Prison earlier that month. Since then, he has subsisted on water, fizzy drinks and IV injections.
The United States government recently stated their awareness of Dr al-Singace’s case and urged Bahrain to ensure adequate medical care for all prisoners and an investigation into all reports of mistreatment. The UK government has previously raised his case with Bahrain, though they have never called for his release. The 41 NGOs call on the international community, and in particular the US and the European Union, to urge for Dr al-Singace’s release.
The release of the urgent appeal also coincides with a protest led by the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democacy (BIRD), English PEN, Index on Censorship and REDRESS outside the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, London, calling on them to take action on Dr al-Singace’s case and to put pressure on the Bahraini authorities to end human rights abuses in Bahrain and its prisons.
Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Director of Advocacy at BIRD: “The United Kingdom should use its leverage with Bahrain to secure Abduljalil’s release and hold their ally accountable. He is a blogger, a journalist, a thinker and categorically should not be in prison.”
Cat Lucas, Writers at Risk Programme Manager, English PEN: “PEN remains seriously concerned for Dr al-Singace, now on the 160th day of his hunger strike in protest at the treatment of his fellow prisoners. We continue to urge the Bahraini authorities to release Dr al-Singace and the many other writers of concern to PEN unconditionally, and to allow him access to the medical attention he requires, as well as to reading and writing materials, as a matter of urgency.”
Jodie Ginsberg, CEO, Index on Censorship: “Dr al-Singace has been on hunger strike for more than five months and the UK has yet to call for his release. His arrest, sentencing and treatment in jail have received international condemnation and we call on Britain to join global counterparts in calling for Dr al-Singace’s release and ensuring he receives appropriate medical assistance.”
Dr Abduljalil al-Singace is a prisoner of conscience and a member of the Bahrain 13, a group of activists arrested by the Bahraini government for their role in peaceful protests in 2011. Dr al-Singace is a blogger, academic, and former Head of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Bahrain. Dr al-Singace is currently serving a life sentence ordered by a military court on 22 June 2011.
