The International League Against Arbitrary Detention urges the Government of Bahrain to take all the necessary actions to implement the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Opinion No. 47/2023 concerning Abduljabbar Isa Abdulla Hasan Mohamed, Fadhel Abbas Abdulla Hasan Mohamed, Ahmed Abdulla Marhoon Rashed, Hasan Ali Abdulla Rashed Ahmed Rashed, Mohamed Abduljabbar Mansoor Ali Husaini Sarhan and Faris Husain Habib Ahmed Salman, asking the Government of Bahrain to immediately and unconditionally release them, and to accord them an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations in accordance with international law.
Read the full WGAD Opinion concerning these six individuals (Bahrain): Opinion No. 47/2023.
ILLEGALLY ARRESTED AND DETAINED ON TERRORISM-RELATED CHARGES
Messrs. Abduljabbar Mohamed, Fadhel Mohamed, Ahmed Rashed, Hasan Rashed, Sarhan and Salman are nationals of Bahrain, born between 1988 and 2005. All had different activities and/or professions at the time of their respective arrests.
They were arrested between the 21st and 26th of November 2021 either at work or at home. Besides, Mr. Ahmed Rashed was arrested for the first time in 2012 and sentenced to 5 years and 6 months for being accused of having a role in the “Diraz explosions” and 3 additional years for assaulting police officers while in prison. He was released on 18 March 2020. Similarly, Mr. Salman was also arrested for the first time on 9 February 2021, while being a minor. The charges brought against him concerned the protests of February 2020 but, according to the source, thanks to the mobilisation of international human rights groups, he was released on 11 March 2021.
Concerning the arrests which took place in November 2021, all were arrested without being presented with a warrant or a reason for their arrest. They were held in the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) after their arrests, interrogated and either threatened to be tortured or directly tortured.
All but Mr. Hasan Rashed were sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison and the charges included joining a terrorist cell; possession of explosive devices, weapons and ammunition; receiving military training; and receiving and delivering money from a terrorist cell. Mr. Hasan Rashed was sentenced in absentia to 3 years in prison for the same charges. For three of them, the terrorist cell they were accused to have joined was the "Al-Ashtar Brigades".
The Working Group transmitted the allegations to the Government of Bahrain, which contested them.
ARRESTED WITHOUT BEING INFORMED OF THE CHARGES AND UNABLE TO CHALLENGE THEIR DETENTION
The six individuals were arrested without being informed of the reasons for their arrest or of charges against them at the time of their arrest. The Government of Bahrain responded that arrest warrants were issued but have not brought the proof of the individuals being informed for their arrests. For this reason, the Working Group found the situation in violation of article 9 (2) of the Covenant.
None of the six individuals was brought before a judicial authority within the 48 hours following their arrests. These allegations have not been refuted by the Government. The Working Group thus found a violation of their right to be promptly brought before a judicial authority following their arrests, enshrined in article 9 (3) of the Covenant. The Working Group also pointed out that Mr. Hasan Rashed, being a minor at the time of his arrest, should have been brought before such an authority within 24 hours following his arrest, as prescribed under articles 37 (b) and 40 (2) (b) (ii) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Moreover, the Working Group considered that the violent manner in which Messrs. Fadhel Mohamed and Hasan Rashed were arrested, as well as the way in which the homes of several of these individuals were searched without a warrant, further contributed to the illegality of their respective arrests.
The source also alleged that the six individuals were denied or restricted to communicate with their families, lawyers or independent medical personnel. Indeed, after their arrests, contact with their families was complicated and sporadic (i.e., phone calls from time to time), as were their contacts with their lawyers, if not denied at all (i.e., Mr. Salman). The Government denied this by presenting a list of phone calls the detainees would have had, however the Working Group found this response insufficient since the list only referred to the months of April through June 2023, while the detainees were arrested in November 2021. Thus, this denial or restriction of access to the outside world led the Working Group to consider that their rights to challenge the lawfulness of their detention had been violated under article 9 (4) of the Covenant, and by doing so, their right to an effective remedy as well, under article 8 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the articles 2 (3) of the Covenant.
Therefore, the Working Group found that the arrests and detentions of these six individuals were all arbitrary under category I, since they lacked a legal basis.
VIOLATIONS OF THEIR RIGHTS TO A FAIR TRIAL
As mentioned above, the six individuals faced restrictions from accessing legal counsel. While Messrs. Abduljabbar Mohamed, Fadhel Mohamed, Ahmed Rashed and Hasan Rashed did not have access to their lawyers because they did not have one according to the Government’s response, Mr. Sahan had access to a lawyer during his interrogation and trial. However, the Government did not explain the fact that Mr. Sahan had no access to his lawyer during his first 10-day interrogation period.
In respect to Mr. Salman, the Working Group has not been provided with information from the Government stating that the detainee had access to an independent legal representation.
As such, the six individuals were not able to adequately prepare with sufficient time and facilities their defence, for which the Working Group found a violation of their right under article 14 (3) (b) of the Covenant. The Working Group specifically focused on the case of Mr. Hasan Rashed, as since he was still a minor at that time, he was deprived of the rights to prompt access to legal assistance and to legal assistance in the preparation of his defence, guaranteed under the articles 37 (d) and 40 (2) (b) (ii) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Besides, the source stated that all six individuals were subjected to torture and ill treatment during their arrests or detentions. The Government of Bahrain challenged these allegations stating that the Special Investigation Unit and the Office of the Ombudsman investigated these allegations. However, the Working Group recalled that the Committee against Torture noted in its observations in 2017 that the above mentioned bodies were not “independent and effective”. The Working Group thus concluded that these situations had violated the right of these six individuals not to be subjected to torture and other ill-treatments, as prescribed by article 5 of the UDHR and article 7 of the Covenant. Considering Mr. Hasan Rashed was still a minor at the time of his arrest, the Working Group also recalled his rights not to be subjected to such mistreatments under article 37 (a) and (c) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and articles 2 and 16 of the Convention against Torture.
Also, as the confessions were obtained through torture and the detainees certainly convicted thanks to the statements that came out of it, and as the Government was unable to prove otherwise, the Working Group found a violation of the right to be presumed innocent and not to be compelled to confess guilt, guaranteed under the articles 14 (2) and (3) (g) of the Covenant. The Working Group also reminded that, given the minor status of Mr. Hasan Rashed, his rights under articles 40 (2) (b) (i) and 40 (2) (b) (iv) of the Convention on the Rights of the Child were also violated. Eventually, the Working Group referred this case to the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
Therefore, the Working Group found that the breaches of the fair trial and due process rights of these six individuals were of such gravity as to render their deprivation of liberty arbitrary under the 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 detentions of Abduljabbar Isa Abdulla Hasan Mohamed, Fadhel Abbas Abdulla Hasan Mohamed, Ahmed Abdulla Marhoon Rashed, Hasan Ali Abdulla Rashed Ahmed Rashed, Mohamed Abduljabbar Mansoor Ali Husaini Sarhan and Faris Husain Habib Ahmed Salman were arbitrary and fell under categories I and III because it contravened articles 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and 2, 7, 9 and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Right.
The Working Group recommended that the Government of Bahrain take the necessary steps to remedy their situation 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 them immediately, accord them an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law, and to ensure a full and independent investigation of the circumstances surrounding the arbitration detention and allegations of torture.
Eventually, the Working Group noted that these cases were part of a larger pattern of “warrantless, pre-trial detention with limited access to judicial review; denial of access to lawyers; forced confession; torture and ill-treatment; and denial of medical care” that emerged in recent years in Bahrain.
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