PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
Torture and enforced disappearance of Bahraini political prisoners (23 May 2021)

That this House views with serious concern the attack by Bahraini police on political prisoners in Jau Prison on 17 April 2021; condemns the enforced disappearance of over 60 inmates for a period of 19 days after the attack; notes that the attack was in response to a sit-in by inmates protesting deteriorating prison conditions and the death of political prisoner Abbas Mallallah; is aware that police officers involved in the incident were led by top prison officials, Hisham Abdulraheem and Brigadier Abdulsalam AlArifi; is deeply disturbed by first-hand accounts provided to the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy that inmates were severely beaten and subjected to torture and cruel and degrading treatment; expresses concern that Saeed Abdulemam was beaten unconscious, requiring hospitalisation; abhors reports that the attack’s victims were subjected to religious discrimination and denied medical treatment; echoes the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ (OHCHR) condemnation of the use of unnecessary and disproportionate force by police; supports OHCHR’s calls for a thorough and effective investigation; condemns the Bahraini Ministry of Interior’s whitewash of abuses against inmates; condemns further whitewashing by UK-funded oversight bodies, including Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior Ombudsman and the National Institute for Human Rights which issued false and misleading statements about the attack and subsequent abuse; urges the Government to suspend technical assistance to Bahraini oversight bodies; and calls upon the Government to oppose the criminalisation and prosecution of the attack’s victims and ensure that they are not subjected to further reprisals.

Sponsored by:
Mr Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat)