PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
Bahraini children abused and subjected to threats of rape and electric shock (21 April 2021)

That this House views with grave concern revelations made by the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy and Human Rights Watch on 10 March 2021 regarding human rights violations against 13 detained children in Bahrain; notes that Husain Abdulrasool, Fares Husain, Mohammed Jafar and Sayed Hasan Ameen were convicted on 11 March 2021 after being tried as adults; raises alarm that three were convicted on the basis of one child’s confession extracted under abuse and threats of torture; further notes that two children were detained for protesting against the November 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix; reminds Bahrain that the Convention on the Rights of the Child prohibits detaining children in all but the most exceptional of circumstances; decries that prosecutors and judges enabled abuse and due process violations in these cases; calls upon the Government to apply the Magnisky Act against implicated officials; strongly condemns that children were abused and threatened with sexual assault and electric shocks to coerce their confessions; expresses concern that the Bahraini Ministry of the Interior Ombudsman’s investigation whitewashed abuses against children; urges for the halt of British technical assistance to Bahraini oversight bodies; regrets that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office did not raise those cases immediately; and calls upon the Government to publicly condemn the mistreatment of those children in Bahrain

Sponsored by:
Ian Blackford (Scottish National Party)