MANAMA, 15 December 2004 — The families of dozens of prisoners who began a hunger strike on Saturday in protest at their long detention without trial protested at the Ministry of Justice yesterday. The protest was made as a letter to the minister of justice with the prisoners’ demands was leaked to the media.
Family members said the number of prisoners on hunger strike had risen from 64 to 75. The Ministry of the Interior earlier denied that a strike was in progress but then later admitted that 35 prisoners were involved.
The protesters were joined by human rights activists from the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), which was dissolved by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs in September. Officials of the Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS) continue efforts to obtain a visitation permit for a delegation, including a doctor to visit the prisoners and see the conditions they are being kept in.
Relatives of the inmates — some of whom have been in jail for nine months without being charged — allege that at least two of the prisoners have collapsed due to exhaustion. They also allege that officials at the Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID) ignored pleas for help for nearly five hours before finally taking the inmates to a medical facility. One family member said: “They also took away the prisoners’ daily one-hour outdoor exercise rights in addition to barring them from making phone calls or smoking. They also denied the prisoners access to hot water for showers.”
The leaked letter said that the prisoners wanted those among them who are “sick” to be separated from the others. According to family members, “sick” refers to those suffering from AIDS and other contagious life-threatening diseases. The letter, written by 32-year-old Abdul Aziz Abbas, a father of three who has been in jail more than eight months awaiting trial, alleged inhumane treatment by jailers, a lack of basic rights, a lack of medical care and a lack of proper food.
BCHR member Abdul Hadi Al-Khawaja said: “This situation exposes a malfunction in the system when people can be arrested and detained for months without being charged. The public prosecutor has unlimited power to renew detentions but this power should only be used in special circumstances instead of all the time.”
Al-Khawaja added that in accordance with international standards, the prisoners should have been charged within the first 24 to 48 hours or released. The head of the legal committee, lawyer Muhammad Al-Mutawa, said the BHRS had filed a request to meet with the prisoners yesterday and were still awaiting a response from the public prosecutor. No one from the public prosecutor’s office was available yesterday despite repeated efforts to contact officials there.
