Today marks the 150th day of prominent Bahraini academic and blogger Dr. Abduljalil Al-Singace’s hunger strike.
Al-Singace is protesting prison conditions in Bahrain. He is currently being held in solitary confinement at Al Qalaa hospital due to his poor health, and is reportedly being denied access to the full medical assistance he requires. Al-Singace, who has been promoting human rights in Bahrain since 2000, is serving a life sentence for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government.
Index’s magazine editor, Rachael Jolley, responded to a call by English Pen to send a magazine for Abduljalil Al-Singace along with a copy of the letter below via the Ministry of Information.
You too can express your support for Al-Singace by signing the petition asking for the immediate and unconditional release of Al-Singace and of all those detained in Bahrain in violation of their right to freedom of expression.
You can also join the social media campaign for Al-Singace by sharing details of his case with your friends and contacts using #SingaceHungerStrike.
Letter to the Ministry of Interior
Ministry of Interior
Capital Governorate Police Directorate
P.O Box 13
Manama
Bahrain
Dear Sir/Madam
I am writing to you on behalf of Index on Censorship and as a supporter of English PEN regarding the ongoing detention of Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace.
According to PEN’s information, Dr Al-Singace, a prominent academic and blogger, is currently serving a life sentence in Bahrain. I share PEN’s concerns that Al-Singace has allegedly been subject to torture and ill-treatment whilst detained, and that he has now been on hunger strike for 150 days. I also join PEN in calling on the authorities to ensure that Dr Al-Singace has access to the medical attention he urgently requires.
Whilst remaining extremely concerned for Dr Al-Singace’s health and well-being, I welcome the news that he will once again be allowed access to magazines and newspapers.
Please find enclosed a copy of Index on Censorship magazine “Fired, threatened, imprisoned… Is academic freedom being eroded?”, which I would be most grateful if you are able to pass on to Dr. Al-Singace on our behalf.
The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), English PEN and Index on Censorship gathered outside the Bahrain Embassy in London on Wednesday 29 July 2015 to protest the ongoing detention of Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace.
Al-Singace is a prominent academic and blogger who promoted human rights in Bahrain since 2000. Police arrested Al-Singace for his participation in peaceful protests in 2011. During his initial detention, security officials subjected Al-Singace to torture and ill-treatment, including forced standing, verbal and sexual assault, beatings, and prolonged solitary confinement. He was tried by a military court in June 2011 and sentenced to life in prison for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government.
Al-Singace’s health has rapidly deteriorated since he was imprisoned, and he is kept from receiving desperately needed medical supplies. On 21 March 2015 Al-Singace began a hunger strike in protest of the ill-treatment of inmates and the poor, unsanitary conditions at Jau Prison. He has now completed 132 days of hunger strike.
(Photo: Moosa Mohammed)
Rights groups gathered at the solidarity protest unanimously called for the release of Al-Singace and denounced restrictions on freedom of expression in Bahrain. The organisations also called on Bahrain to investigate allegations of torture in Bahrain’s prisons and called for urgent medical attention for Al-Singace.
Freedom of expression in Bahrain has continued to be restricted since 2011, when Saudi Arabian troops helped crush pro-democracy protests during the Arab Spring. The government regularly censors its citizens’ opinions, especially criticisms of the government, and imprisonment is a common punishment for simply expressing one’s opinion. Al-Singace is only one of many who have been jailed for expressing their beliefs. His continued strength and activism remains an inspiration to those still fighting within Bahrain and around the world for the fundamental right to freedom of expression.
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Al-Singace suffers from post-polio syndrome, heart, eye, and sinus problems, and requires urgent nasal and ear surgery. Prison authorities have denied Al-Singace the specialist medical treatment that he urgently needs. He is currently being detained at the Al-Qalaa Hospital and is not permitted to go outdoors. He is also being denied access to novels, religious texts, television, radio, and pen and paper for writing.
The Road Bloc Collective are a group of artists and activists who explore how power inscribes itself in urban space through architecture and images.
As parts of Bahrain transform into territories of dissent, where roundabouts become ‘squares’ and spaces for political speech and action, graffiti is visible like never before and road blocks and marches are part of everyday life – the scenography and spectacle of revolution.
Featuring photography, sound works and installation, Road Block enacts the ongoing battle for space and claims for ‘the right to the city’, that provoke and challenge us to reconsider the relationship that we have to space and power.
When: 9 July – 1 August, daily 10am to 11pm. Where: Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Rd, London, E1 6LA (Map/directions) Tickets: Free
Presented in partnership with the Road Bloc Collective as part of Shubbak Festival
Nabeel Rajab during a protest in London in September (Photo: Milana Knezevic)
Index welcomes King Hamad of Bahrain’s pardoning of human rights defender Nabeel Rajab, who was in the third month of a six-month sentence connected to his expressing an opinion in a tweet. According to Bahrain’s official news agency, Rajab was pardoned over fears for his health.
However, the country must do more to respect the freedom of expression of its citizens by dropping all charges against political prisoners whose so-called crimes have been to campaign for greater democratic rights, or expressing opinions.
“This action by the king undoes a grave miscarriage of justice. But Rajab is just one of the campaigners that have been targeted with judicial harassment by the Bahraini government. Index calls on King Hamad to pardon all the political prisoners currently serving sentences on spurious charges,” Index on Censorship CEO Jodie Ginsberg said.
Rajab is among the Gulf region’s most well-known human rights activists. He is the president of the Index award-winning Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), and a member of the advisory committee of the Human Rights Watch Middle East division. Since the Bahraini uprising of 2011, he has been arrested on numerous occasions and had his house tear-gassed for leading protests in which he and others voiced criticism of the Bahraini government.
Having been imprisoned between August 2012 and May 2014, Rajab was once again arrested in October 2014 and charged with “insulting a public institution”. His crime related to tweets in which he alleged that some Bahraini soldiers may have defected to the Islamic State, referring to Bahraini institutions as “ideological incubators”. In May, his six-month prison sentence was upheld.
