Torture Story of Political Detainee Zuheir Ibrahim who was Sentence to Death: HR Documentation

2020-06-16 - 3:31 م

Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): The information mentioned in this report is a brief of a report issued by Bahrain Center for Human Rights two years ago, in which it documented what happened to political prisoner Zuheir Ibrahim Jassim, whose death sentence was upheld on Monday (June 15, 2020) by the cassation court, noting that this was a final verdict pending the King's ratification.

There are currently 11 political prisoners facing unjust death penalties awaiting the King's ratification.

The security authorities tortured Zuheir Ibrahim for 13 days to force him into signing a confession. The story of the family begins with the attack of a masked civilian force who stormed their house in the Sitra area on November 2, 2017. The force arbitrarily arrested Zuheir after searching the house and confiscated Zuheir's personal belongings without giving the family any information or justifications for the arrest and didn't show any search warrant or legal permission to enter the premises and search it.

Hanan Ali (35 years old), Zuheir's wife, said that she was beaten by the masked civilian forces who broke into her house after her husband was arrested. They punched and slapped her with force and pulled her by her neck, causing her neck pain, as well as threatening her with rape and pointing a gun to her head during interrogation in an isolated room in the house, so that she would give them information about her husband Zuheir. This took place before Zuheir's family was summoned to the criminal investigation building, where their fingerprints were taken.

Zuheir spent about 55 days in the criminal investigation building before being transferred to the Dry Dock detention center, after the Public Prosecution ordered detaining him for six months.

Zuheir told his family that he was severely tortured by the detectives who interrogated him. He was stripped of his clothes, hanged by his hands and feet, electrocuted in sensitive areas of the body, sexually harassed, punched, slapped in the face and kicked. The interrogators also threatened to kill his family if he does not confess to the charges raised against him.

Hence, Zuheir signed papers and confessions on the above-mentioned charges, according to the Bahraini Ministry of the Interior, which defamed him as well as other defendants on Bahrain's official state TV on November 15, 2017, 13 days after his arrest.

This is a story of an inmate on death row in Bahrain, who faced and is still facing all kinds of torture. What about the stories of other political prisoners? What is hidden is worse.

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