Bahrain Regime kidnaps blogger, Mohamed Hassan and his lawyer Aziz Moussa to stop “truth tellers”

Bahrain : Torture and incommunicado detention of Mr Mohamed Hassan and detention of his lawyer Mr Abdul Aziz Moussa
Mohamed HassanMohamed Hassan
9 August, 2013- Front Line Defenders

On 7 August 2013, human rights defender and blogger Mr Mohamed Hassan was led before the General Prosecutor in Manama following more than a week of incommunicado detention. Subsequently, his lawyer Mr Abdul Aziz Moussa was detained on 8 August 2013 after he reported on Twitter the visible signs of torture he had seen on Mohamed Hassan.

Before his arbitrary arrest on 31 July 2013, Mohamed Hassan acted as a media contact point for various foreign news stories, which included coverage of anti-government protests and police crackdowns in Bahrain.

On 31 July 2013, Mohamed Hassan was taken from his home by masked men, associated with the Ministry of Interior, and detained incommunicado at the Criminal Investigation Department. He was brought to a meeting with the General Prosecutor on 3 August for which he was denied legal counsel, and charged with “calling for gatherings”.

On 7 August, for the first time, he was able to access legal representation, and was further charged with “operating accounts that call for changing the regime”, “inciting hatred of the regime” and “calling to disobey the law”. Mohamed Hassan remains in detention at El-Hod El-Gaf prison for a period of 45 days pending an investigation.

After the meeting of 7 August, Mohamed Hassan’s lawyer, Abdul Aziz Moussa, reported visible signs of torture on his client’s arms on his Twitter account, confirming the human rights defender’s reports that he had been subjected to torture while in custody at the Criminal Investigation Department. Subsequently, the human rights lawyer was summoned for an interrogation on 8 August. The authorities claimed that Abdul Aziz Moussa had “disclosed confidential information about the investigation”, and decided to keep the lawyer in detention for a week pending investigation.

The support Mohamed Hassan provided to international media, such as The Sunday Telegraph, has previously made him a target for the Bahraini authorities. In June 2012, he was summoned for interrogation and accused of “writing for a website without a license” – an act that does not in fact require a license in Bahrain. He was also arrested on two consecutive days, 21 and 22 April 2012, while accompanying press groups. On the former occasion, he reported being beaten on the leg with a gun barrel. On both days he was released without charges.

The current detention of Mohamed Hassan is part of an alarming wave of suppressive actions targeting human rights defenders and peaceful protesters. The clampdown has intensified in recent days, particularly targeting individuals perceived as sympathetic to the “tamarrod” movement, which calls for a nation-wide protest on 14 August 2013.

On 28 July 2013, the Bahraini National Assembly made a series of alarming recommendations in an extraordinary session, such as “banning sit-ins, rallies and gatherings in the capital Manama”, which, in addition to constituting a violating of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, could potentially sanction in advance repressive actions against peaceful human rights activities, and exclude them from appeal or Royal pardon.

Front Line Defenders considers that the arrest and detention of Mohamed Hassan and Abdul Aziz Moussa to be directly related to their activities in defence of human rights. In the light of the credible reports that Mohamed Hassan was tortured while in custody, Front Line Defenders fears that the safety and the physical and psychological integrity of Mohamed Hassan and Abdul Aziz Moussa are at serious risk. …more