Bahrain Mirror: Head of monitoring and documentation at the Bahrain Forum for Human Rights (BFHR), Hussein Nooh, said that 30 prisoners of conscience were released in that last week of May. The security authorities informed them that they had obtained a special pardon. The King of Bahrain had issued a decree pardining 154 prisoners on May 22, however, this decree has not been published in the Official Gazette to date.

Hussein Nooh indicated that security authorities'' procedures lack transparency, stressing at the same time the right of all prisoners of conscience to obtain immediate and unconditional freedom and to have their sentences abolished. Nooh added that prisoners are still under threat due to the COVID-19, in case it reached the prisons.

It is worth noting that the security authorities released prominent human rights defender, Nabeel Rajab, under the Alternative Penalties Law, in June after spending four years in prison. Meanwhile, the alternative penalty Rajab will have to serve is still unknown.

The BFHR, along with other human rights organizations, issued a statement stressing that "the application of alternative penalties against prisoners of conscience is a double injustice, an alternative restriction, and a step that lacks respect for human rights."

Arabic Version