Rights and Access Denied Political Prisoners and Families in Bahrain

Rights and Access Denied: Prisoners Prevented from Seeing Family Members
21 March, 2103 – Bahrain Center for Human Rights

In the wake of World War 2, the international community established standards in regards to civil rights and liberties, with the hope that there wouldn`t be any racial, religious or political discrimination. The world has moved forward to protect human rights, but Bahrain has decided to stay behind.

Bahrain is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), where in Article 10 states that all persons imprisoned and deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person. However, these rights are routinely denied.

Since February 2011 human rights activists have been thrown in and out of jail at an alarming pace for acts as small as tweeting or simply because they were standing in a group of more than five people.

Photo: Families waiting outside a prison to visit their loved ones. Visitors never know if they will be allowed to visit their family members, or if the visit will be arbitrarily denied.

Imprisoned activist Zainab Al-Khawaja was supposed to meet with her father, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, on Sunday, but the visit was denied. To protest these violations of their rights, they both started a hunger strike on the same day, and their strike continues. Zainab was also denied the right to visit with her three year-old daughter during a scheduled visit. Prison authorities would not explain, but only stated that they were following the orders of senior personnel.

The UN adopted the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, and although they are not legally binding, they are certainly a good guide for how governments should treat their prisoners in a democratic society. This guide clearly states that prisoners shouldn`t be cut off from the world as they are in Bahrain. …source