URGENT NEWS; A prominent human rights defender and former Mena director at Frontline defenders, Abdulhadi Alhkawaja has just been arrested along with two of his son-in-laws- Wafi Almajid and Hussein Ahmed. They broke the front door to the house and then beat them severely along with Mohammad Almasqati, the president of the Bahrain youth society of human rights. But they through Mohammad into a room and told him not to come out and then closed the door. Abdulhadi Alkhawaja was beaten so severely that the blood stain is still visible on the stair case. And when his oldest daughter, Zainab, tried to intervene she was beaten as well.
On their search for Abdulhadi Alkhawaja they went to his apartment first and didn't find him there. They then went to his cousin's house and he wasn't there either but his cousin, Habib Alhalwachi, was and they arrested him. They finally went to the home of his daughter, Zainab Alkhawaja, and found him, arrested him and two others as mentioned above. Urgent pleas for intervention as all three are under arrest, high risk of torture, and their lives may be in danger.
Apr 9
Dear Friends,
Today the Ministry of Interior released news that two detainees died while in custody. The first, Ali Isa Saqer, who was charged with allegedly running over a policeman and killing him, was said to have "created chaos at the detention center and that led to the interference of security forces to bring situation to normal, but he resisted them and sustained various injuries in the process. He was referred to the hospital and died later."
The second man, Zakariya Rashid Hassan, was allegedly "found dead on Saturday morning at the Detention Center." The MOI alleges that he died due to sickle cell anemia. This is the second case of death allegedly due to sickle cell anemia in detention centers by Bahraini Authorities. All detainees (currently numbered at around 600, amongst them 25 women two of whom are pregnant) are at very high risk of torture and their lives are at threat. I will be sending the updated list as soon as it is translated in English.
In an update on the Al-Khawaja case, Minister of foreign affairs wrote on twitter: "He (Alkhawaja) was arrested for charges to be brought against him legally. He violently resisted the arrest and had to be subdued" and then went on to say: "He (Alkhawaja) is not a reformer. He called for the overthrow of the legitimate regime"
You can read the details of Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja's arrest as told by his daughter who was present at the time to Human Rights Watch:
There are still ongoing protests and candlelit vigils which get attacked every night in different villages in Bahrain causing more injuries. Tens of people are staying at home despite serious injuries, some with shrapnel in their eyes, out of fear of going to the hospitals which are still under the control of the security forces.
Again, we call for urgent intervention as many lives are under threat.
Apr 10
Dear Friends,
I am writing to you in urgency as we have pictures which now show that Isa Saqer, who's death the Ministry of Interior announced yesterday, show torture marks on his body. The pictures are graphic. It is important to note that Zakaria alAsheri, whose death was also announced yesterday, is a blogger who was arrested because of his responsibility for website. Al Asheri's family has informed us that Zakaria never had sickle cell anemia, which the authorities said was the cause of death. Again, all detainees are under high risk of torture and their lives are at threat.
There is still no news about Abdulhadi Alkhawaja or his sons-in-law. Their whereabouts are still unknown and lawyers have not been able to reach them. There is grave concern for his well-being and his life. There is concern for Abdulhadi's eldest daughter, Zainab, who has been talking to the media about her father's arrest and has been working on documenting cases. She has already received death threats and threats of arrest from members of the royal family due to her speaking out. Zahra Alsingace, Abduljalil AlSingace's 23 year old daughter, was arrested and interrogated today for a few hours then released. They made her open her facebook page and went through it. Her older brother Hussain remains in detainment as does her father and her brother Hassan is in hiding as the authorities are looking for him.
Apr 10
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