Bahrain Forum for Human Rights Statement on the Maritime Incident and the Disappearance of a Citizen

October 28, 2025

The Bahrain Forum for Human Rights (BFHR) stresses the necessity of revealing the circumstances surrounding the maritime incident that took place on October 20, 2025, near the Fasht Al-Azm marine area in Bahrain. According to a witness account, a boat belonging to the Bahraini Coast Guard deliberately collided with a civilian boat carrying four citizens. As a result, citizen Abdullah Hassan Youssef fell into the sea and went missing following the deliberate collision by the Coast Guard patrol vessel. Members of the patrol then arrested the remaining passengers—citizens Sadiq Redha, Sayed Hassan Youssef, and minor Abdullah Al-Bahrani (16 years old)—on charges of violating legal regulations governing shrimp fishing.

According to the testimony of Abdullah Al-Bahrani (16 years old), who was later released while the two others remained detained, the collision was intentional. He stated that the Coast Guard officers issued no warning to the civilian boat to stop, ignored the passengers’ signals indicating their willingness to comply, and later admitted to the passengers that they had intentionally rammed the boat twice—believing at first that its occupants were of East Asian nationality and that they were violating shrimp fishing rules. This account contradicts the Coast Guard’s official statement claiming that the civilian boat was the one that struck the patrol vessel, despite the civilian passengers having recorded—both in audio and video—that the patrol pursued them.

Al-Bahrani further reported that he and his detained companions immediately informed the Coast Guard patrol officers that Abdullah Hassan Youssef had fallen into the sea and gone missing, yet the officers showed no concern and took no immediate action to search for him. The Coast Guard Command later announced, on October 23—three days after the incident—that the search for the missing citizen was ongoing. However, recordings by citizens on October 24 documented the absence of any Coast Guard patrols in the search area.

Hence, the BFHR emphasizes the following:

1. The Coast Guard, along with all relevant security and rescue agencies, must commit to continuous and serious search efforts for the missing citizen Abdullah Hassan Youssef, and coordinate with neighboring countries to take all necessary measures in this regard.
2. An immediate and transparent investigation must be launched through an independent investigative committee to uncover the circumstances of the incident, determine responsibility, and ensure that anyone found guilty of deliberate or negligent misconduct is held fairly accountable.
3. The testimonies of the three surviving citizens and their audio-visual documentation must be treated as valid legal evidence and not dismissed in determining responsibility.
4. A clear timeline for the investigation must be set, and its results made public in a transparent and comprehensive manner.
5. The family of the missing citizen must be allowed to follow the progress of the investigation and receive regular updates through official channels.
6. The authorities must immediately compensate the family for the initial material losses, considering that the missing person was the family’s breadwinner.

In conclusion, the BFHR notes that the Bahraini government’s longstanding policy of impunity for members of official security agencies involved in arbitrary assaults on citizens—both inside and outside prisons—has entrenched a systematic disregard for citizens’ lives and safety within these institutions. Therefore, the BFHR calls on the Ministry of Interior, which oversees the Coast Guard, and the judicial authorities in Bahrain to fully assume their responsibilities regarding the incident, to end the policy of impunity, and to implement the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the International Ship and Port Facility Security (ISPS) Code, and other relevant international standards to which Bahrain is a signatory.

The BFHR also believes that the hasty release of a selectively edited video clip of the incident before the completion of the investigation constitutes a violation of the presumption of innocence, a breach of justice and transparency standards, and an attempt to manipulate public opinion.