The International League Against Arbitrary Detention urges the Government of Bahrain to take all necessary actions to implement the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Opinion No. 40/2024 concerning Habib Ali Habib Jasim Mohamed al-Fardan, Jasim Mohamed Saeed Ahmed Ali Ajwaid, Husain Ali Basheer Ali Khairalla, and Ebrahim Yusuf Ali Ebrahim al-Samahiji. The Working Group called upon the Government of Bahrain to accord them an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations in accordance with international law.
Read the full WGAD Opinion concerning these four individuals (Bahrain): Opinion No. 40/2024.
FOUR INDIVIDUALS PUT UNDER SIMILAR ARREST AND DETENTION CONDITIONS
Habib Ali Habib Jasim Mohamed al-Fardan was born on 27 June 1986. At the time of his arrest, he was the owner of a small shop. Jasim Mohamed Saeed Ahmed Ali Ajwaid was 18 years old and a school student when he was arrested. Husain Ali Basheer Ali Khairalla was a high school student, around 16 years old at the time of his arrest. Ebrahim Yusuf Ali Ebrahim al-Samahiji, born on 26 September 1976 was an employee at Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. The four of them were arrested between February and October 2015.
According to the source, their arrests and detentions were all conducted within a pattern of warrantless arrest, use of torture by officials to extract confessions, enforced disappearances, serious medical negligence, denial of medical care and reprisals against political opposition in the country.
The Working Group transferred the source’s allegations to the Government of Bahrain, which submitted a replied on 6 May 2024.
ARRESTED WITHOUT A WARRANT AND SUBJECTED TO ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE
The source submitted that the four individuals were arrested without a warrant, were not informed of the reasons for their arrest, and were not brought promptly before a judge. This allegation was accepted by the Working Group which found a violation of article 9 (2) of the Covenant and underlined that the Public Prosecution Office before which the individuals were brought could not be considered an appropriate judicial authority to satisfy article 9 (3) of the Covenant. Especially in the case of Mr. Khairalla, who was only 16 years old at the time of his arrest, it found that the fact that he was not brought before a judge in the 24 hours following his arrest was a violation of his rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Furthermore, the Working Group accepted the source’s claim that the four individuals were all subjected to enforced disappearance at some point during their detention for periods varying from 7 to 22 days as the Government failed to prove the contrary. Because they were unable to challenge the legality of their detention, seek an effective remedy or take proceedings before a court, it concluded to the violation of articles 3, 8 and 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as articles 2 (3), 9 and 14 of the Covenant.
In conclusion, the Working Group found that their arrests and detentions fell under category I.
DENIED THEIR FAIR TRIAL RIGHTS AND SUBJECTED TO TORTURE
The source submitted that the four individuals were denied access to legal counsel and the ability to challenge the legality of their detention. Despite the Government’s refutation of such claim, the Working Group found that their aforementioned prolonged incommunicado detention did in fact affect their ability to have access to legal representation and defend themselves. Thus, it found a violation of article 14 (3) (b) of the Covenant.
Additionally, the Working Group expressed its concerns in relation to the source’s submissions regarding acts of torture inflicted on the four individuals during their arrests and/or detentions, notably to obtain their confessions. It found that the Government had not refuted the source’s credible allegations in that regard and thus concluded to a possible violation of article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, articles 2 and 16 (1) of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and article 7 of the Covenant.
The Working Group also welcomed the source’s allegation regarding the trials in abstentia of Messrs. Al-Fardan, Ajwaid and Khairalla, which it found to be a violation of article 14 (3) (d) of the Covenant.
In light of the above, the Working Group concluded that the violations of the right to a fair trial and due process were of such gravity, that they rendered the four individuals’ detention arbitrary under category III.
CONCLUSIONS OF THE UN WORKING GROUP AGAINST ARBITRARY DETENTION
In light of the foregoing, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention considered that the detention of Habib Ali Habib Jasim Mohamed al-Fardan, Jasim Mohamed Saeed Ahmed Ali Ajwaid, Husain Ali Basheer Ali Khairalla, and Ebrahim Yusuf Ali Ebrahim al-Samahiji was arbitrary and fell under categories I and III because their deprivation of liberty contravened articles 3, 8, 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and articles 2, 9 and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The Working Group recommended that the Government of Bahrain take the steps necessary to remedy the situation of these individuals without delay and bring it into conformity with the relevant international norms. The Working group considered that, taking into account all circumstances of the case, the appropriate remedy would be to release Messrs. Al-Fardan and Al-Samahiji immediately and accord the four of them an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law.
In its concluding remarks, the Working Group emphasised the apparent pattern of arrests similar to the four individuals’ in Bahrain, notably ones that are conducted without a warrant and include practices of torture and ill-treatment. It recalled that, under certain circumstances, widespread or systematic imprisonment or other severe deprivation of liberty in violation of the rules of international law may constitute crimes against humanity.
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