The Bahrain Forum for Human Rights said that 8 cases of enforced disappearances of citizens from Diraz area were recorded, one of which is Sayed Alawi Hussein Al-Moussawi who has been missing for 274 days. The BFHR pointed out that the security authorities have used this abusive method in several cases as a means of pressuring those who are arbitrarily detained. “Among the citizens who there are no information about at this point are: Mohammad Abdul-Hassan al-Motaghawi (63 days), Mohammad Abdul-Hussein al-Shehabi (62 days), Ali Abbas Zubail (36 days), Mohammad Issa al-Asfour (35 days), Ahmed Saleh al-Durazi (34 days), Hussein Abdul Jalil al-Asfour (30 days), Hassan Marhoun (27 days),” the BFHR said. The BFHR also explained that some detainees were arrested after using excessive force in the raid on the peaceful sit-in in Diraz next to the house of Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim, the leader of the Shiite community, who has been under house arrest for more than 60 days. "The amendments to Law No. 58 of 2006 on the protection of society from terrorist acts, pursuant to Decree Law No. 68 of 2014, allow the security authorities to commit the crime of enforced disappearance, in violation of paragraph 3 of article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” the BFHR pointed out, adding that such detention, which violates the rule of expedition provided for, constitutes an arbitrary detention, and it is still considered arbitrary even if it is authorized by the local applicable law, according to paragraph 63 of the report of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention submitted to the Human Rights Council at its 22nd session. The BFHR further explained that the amendments to article 27 create conditions for the practice of secret detention of persons, as what happened to Bahraini citizen Sayed Alawi Al-Alawi, according to the concept set out in the joint study on global practices in relation to secret detention in the context of countering terrorism that the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms While Countering Terrorism and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention contributed to its preparation and was submitted to the Human Rights Council at its 13th session.
Bahrain Forum for Human Rights July 25, 2017 |