The Testimony of Hassan Mushaima, A Bahraini Prisoner Sentenced For Life

Hasan Mushaima is an opposition leader in Bahrain and the secretary-general of the Haq Movement, an important opposition party in Bahrain. He is campaigning for more democratic rights in Bahrain. Before forming Haq, he was a founding member of Al Wefaq and a leading figure in the 1994 uprising in Bahrain.

The Bahraini government has placed Mushaima under arrest several times, twice arresting him during the 1994 uprising. He was later jailed from March 1995 to September 1995 and again from January 1996 till February 2001. Mushaima was re-arrested in February 2007 and jailed for one day, and then was arrested and imprisoned again from January 2009 to April 2009.

In 2010 Mushaima traveled to Great Britain to be treated for lung cancer.

Mushaima announced plans to return to Bahrain during the protests in February 2011, but authorities detained him in Lebanon while en route, possibly at the request of the Bahraini government. Mushaima finally did return to Bahrain on Saturday, February 26, 2011. On that day, he was described by the Associated Press as being “welcomed like a rock star,” by protestors in Pearl Square. On 7th March, 2011, Mushaima alongside with Abdulwahab Hussain, the leader of Wafa movement and Saeed Alshehabi the leader of the Bahrain Freedom Movement, formed the ” Alliance for the Republic “, because of their belief that the Bahraini regime lost legitimacy after the harsh crackdown on protesters using heavy weapons.

One month after protests, the Gulf Cooperation Council sent 1,500+ PSF troops (1,000 Saudi, some Qatari troops and 500 Emirati policemen) to crush the popular uprising there and also sent the Kuwaiti Navy to stop any aid to the protesters by sea. After the protesters were kicked from the Pearl Roundabout, many known rights activists operating in Bahrain were arrested, including Mushaima.

The Testimony of Hassan Mushaima, A Bahraini Prisoner Sentenced For Life of Imprisonment In Bahraini Court
19 September, 2012 – European-Bahraini Organization for Human Rights [exceprt]

The last arrest came after the events that took place since February 14 2011, to make it the worst arrest that I ever encountered throughout my entire life. On the early morning of Thursday, 17 March 2011, and at around 2 o’clock am, the time the security forces choose to make their arrests in order to inflict more harm and terror to those asleep and terrorize and scare the children, and to leave the children and family with an eternal recollection of those horrific scenes and blatant violations.

I was asleep but my sons and daughters were awake, they heard loud and continuous ringing of the door bell, so they came to wake me up and tell me that the riot police are surrounding the house and that they are here to arrest me. I went to them and asked them the usual question if they had had a court order for my arrest or from the Public Prosecutor but they remained silent and entered my bedroom and searched it and took my laptop and my mobile phone, they then handcuffed me and took me, accompanied by a large number of riot police to “Safra” area. There and after the formal and quick examination they handcuffed me again and blindfolded me and put me in a vehicle I did not see for my welcome party to start, unlike all of my previous arrests, with beating, humiliation, insults and verbal abuse, for there was no law upheld or respected and no rights for the detainee, only bursts of hatred, revenge and vengeance. The first of those words were: “Mushaima – to hell with you and your sect”. This degrading treatment continued all the way until we reached “Al-Qareen” Prison, whose name I found out later, and in there I received another reception party of beating and punching all over my body and especially on my head and ears. They spat on me and pushed me until I fell and got injured. I was about to vomit from the intensity of the cold but they continued to curse, humiliate and insult me along with the beating until they took me to the solitary cell. There and to increase the humiliation I was given an old torn sponge bed to sleep on and dirty old blanket and a very old smelly pillow. As soon as I lay on the bed I was surprised by someone (a masked man) bringing cold water in the cold weather while the AC was on and started spilling it over me from head to toe and on the bed and blanket. I stayed shaking from the cold and unable to sleep although I was very exhausted.

Next night, and after the lights were turned off, another series of intimidation and harassment began. They hit the metal grid of the cell with hard objects that cause loud and disturbing sounds. In the middle of the night, other groups of masked men would come to threaten, humiliate, mock and beat. This degrading treatment continued, and the series of intimidation and torture continued on a daily basis, and especially at mid night. I stayed awake feeling restless, expecting them to come any moment at midnight, where the groups of masked men would continue with their foul methods of abuse, insult, beating and humiliation in various ways, such as standing for hours by the wall often raising my hand. I remember staying for 10 days with the same clothes without showering, until I was disgusted by my odor, so I once asked the masked policeman to allow me to shower but he did not respond. After an hour or so, another masked person wearing his civilian clothes walked into my cell and said shouting at the top of his lungs, “Get up… face the wall, didn’t you try showering in London on the street?” He then started pouring cold water over my entire body while I stood facing the wall, and then said, “Do not move”. I stayed like this for around 5 hours then another masked man came to say, “We forgot about you”. …more