Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB), and a report by a UN team on arbitrary detention, demanded the release of 6 Bahraini activists who were arrested "arbitrarily and without a warrant, and were tortured to extract confessions."
The organization called on the government of Bahrain to take the necessary steps to correct the situation without delay and bring it in line with the relevant international standards, including those stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, including the immediate and unconditional release of prisoners who are still in custody. Detention, granting them an enforceable right to compensation.
Last November, the "Working Group on Arbitrary Detention" called for the release of the six individuals, namely Ali Mahdi Abd al-Hussein Muhammad Aliwi, Hasan Asad Jasim Jasim Nassif, Habib Hassan Habib Yusef Ali Ahmed Ali Ahmed Fakhrawi, Muhammad Ahmad Ali Ahmed Fakhrawi, and Noah Abdullah Hassan Ahmed Hassan Al-Amrom, who are currently imprisoned in Jaw Prison in Bahrain, considering that they were unlawfully convicted and suffered from a large number of unlawful human rights violations.
Dates of arrest of the six activists range from May 2011 to September 2015. The violations against them included arrests without a warrant, enforced disappearances, and torture - according to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention - which stated that the most common methods of torture that were reported are, These included beatings all over the body, sleep deprivation, being in cold rooms, and threatening their families.
Two of the defendants were minors at the time of their arrest (Ali Mahdi Abd Al-Hussein Muhammad Aliwi and Hassan Asad Jasim Jassim Nassif). Because of the torture they were subjected to, at least 4 defendants signed confessions of the charges against them.
According to the report of the UN team, all of the defendants were prevented from contacting their lawyers, or were allowed limited visits at certain times.
The Working Group on External Judicial Aspects found a consistent pattern of behavior on the part of the Bahraini authorities, which is the absence of arrest warrants or reasons for the arrests.
The Social Affairs Working Group reported that all six individuals were arrested without a judicial warrant, and the government did not respond to this allegation, according to the team.
Moreover, none of the individuals quickly approached a judicial authority to challenge the legality of their detention, and after the arrest of Mr. Mohamed Fakhrawi, he was subjected to enforced disappearance for a period of 3 months, according to the team's report.
The government stated that the allegations that the authorities used enforced disappearance were unfounded.
However, the government failed to provide details of their exact location after their arrest, or any information indicating that their families and lawyers knew their fate or whereabouts, according to the team's statement.
The American organization said that the government's response, which states that all six had lawyers present at their trial, does not address the issue of not allowing lawyers to be present during interrogations, or the limited time they are allowed to consult before and during the trial.
It is clear that the principle of the right of all persons deprived of their liberty to have access to a lawyer at any time during detention, including immediately after their arrest, was not respected, according to the team.
Individuals were also not granted their right in time and adequate facilities to prepare a defense and communicate with a lawyer of their choice, as well as their right to present an effective defense, according to the statement of the UN team, which was quoted by the American organization.
The Working Group noted that, in some cases, the Government had stated that it had investigated some of the allegations;
But the cases were either filed or archived.
The UN team urged the Manama government to ensure a full and independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the arbitrary deprivation of liberty for the six individuals, with a view to holding the perpetrators accountable, calling for their immediate release.