The Bahrain Forum for Human Rights: Denial of medical treatment has turned into a typical method of torture in Bahrain's prisons

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The Bahrain Forum for Human Rights said in a statement on the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture that the denial of treatment has turned into a typical method of torture in Bahrain's prisons, noting that the prisoner of conscience is subject to torture and ill-treatment at all stages of the criminal case, including the stage of carrying out the penalty (sentence). The BFHR revealed some of the names of the prison administration officials responsible for the violation of the right to treatment. They are: Director General of Reformation and Rehabilitation, Brigadier Abdul Salam Yousef Al-Arifi, Hisham Al-Zayani, Ahmed Al-Emadi, and Mohammed Abdel Hamid.

The BFHR noted that the most severe form of torture and ill-treatment in recent years is "denial of treatment." The deteriorating conditions in prisons have led some of those deprived of treatment to extract their teeth with the help of their cellmates, the BFHR said, and when the victim is asked why he did it, he answers that due to severe pain, he had no other solution.

Head of monitoring and documentation at the BFHR, Hussein Nooh, said, “Bahraini prisons are a fertile environment for torture. Last year (2019), we at the BFHR, monitored 352 violations of the right to receive appropriate and necessary treatment against prisoners of conscience.” The security authorities rely on denial of treatment as one of the basic forms of torture, and it is carried out according to a systematic policy, Nooh added.

"The places where the detainee is deprived of treatment are the following: Jaw Central Prison, Dry Dock Prison, Qurain Military Prison, Criminal Investigation Directorate Building, Isa Town Prison (for women)," Nooh further said.

The BFHR pointed out that the forms of violation of the right to receive appropriate and necessary treatment are the following:

1. Not responding directly to the prisoner’s request of treatment.

2. Not giving the prisoner the prescribed medication or giving it to him in an irregular manner.

3. Not giving the prisoner the medicine brought by his family.

4. Not allowing the prisoner to go to the scheduled appointments.

5. Not letting the prisoner be seen by a consultant specialized in his condition.

6. Preventing the prisoner from receiving the physiotherapy recommended by the attending physician.

7. Giving the prisoner medical appointments that are too far.

8. Changing the doctor examining the case, which causes confusion in the prisoner's examination.

9. Torturing the prisoner in the area of the injury.

The BFHR said that some of the effects of treatment deprivation are the following:

- Death

- Infection with chronic or incurable diseases

- Suffering from a disability such as vision loss

- Prolonged suffering from pain

- Transforming the violation of the right to treatment into one of the primary methods of torturing prisoners

The BFHR emphasized that “the prevalence of various forms of ill-treatment in prisons and detention centers confirms Bahrain's failure to commit to its international obligations to put in place the necessary measures, stipulated by international and local laws, to prevent torture and abuses.” The BFHR also stressed that “the policy of impunity and the absence of judicial supervision from places of detention make these practices prevalent in Bahrain's prisons, many of which take place during or before the interrogation to pressure detainees to make confessions against themselves or their cellmates, to be later used in the prosecutions, in clear violation of the defendant's right to remain silent and not to be forced to testify or plead guilty.”