A Sunday report by the Bahraini al-Wasat newspaper expressed concern about health condition of several prisoners who have been gravely tortured in jails while they are denied access to any kind of treatment.
Some families said tortures and abuses occurred even at the interrogations in al-Howdh al-Jaf prison.
They said regime forces blindfolded the prisoners there and used electric shocks at their genitals; “They let go of them when they confess to prepared confessions against themselves,” the report quoted a relative of a prisoner.
The paper also quoted several people who spent some time in regime jails as saying that they were forced to stand fully naked for hours of interrogation which in some cases lasted for days.
The prisoners in many cases suffered from sleep deprivation and constant torture, including beating at sensitive parts of their bodies and electric shocks, for consecutive days and nights.
Ahmad Muhammed Saleh al-Arab’s parents said their son was imprisoned for one week in al-Jaw Prison, in a condition that regime authorities refused to provide any documents to his family or lawyer as why he was being jailed.
Ahmad’s parents said their son was held suspended in air for five whole days. They didn’t let him sleep and was beaten so harshly that he can’t move his both hands now, the parents said.
Prison authorities denied him access to any medical treatment, despite his family’s request.
Ali Abdul Amir is another prisoner whose family interviewed with the paper. They said, Ali has told them “he faces death three times a day”.
According to his family he was afraid to even talk about what he was going through, but he was suffering from sexual abuse and severe pain in his genital area.
Torture and violations is very common in Bahrain jails. In a 2013 report, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Bahrain’s law enforcement has made a habit of regularly detaining children, who are forced to undergo humiliation and cruel treatment often bordering on torture.
The testimonies by victim, family and activist reports compiled by Human Rights Watch reveal that children are being held for as long as adults and suffer the same amount of bodily harm, which often includes beatings.
Since mid-February 2011, thousands of pro-democracy protesters have held numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahraini cities and villages, calling for the Al Khalifa royal family to relinquish power.
On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded the country to assist the US-backed Bahraini government in its crackdown on peaceful protesters.
According to local sources, scores of people have been killed and hundreds arrested during the three years of protests against Al Khalifa regime.
SHI/SHI