Bahrain urged to investigate jail abuses

Bahrain urged to investigate jail abuses
29 December, 2011 – PressTV

A Bahraini human rights group has called on the interior ministry to investigate what it calls human rights violations against anti-regime protesters in prisons.

Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS) has called on Interior Ministry Inspector General Ibrahim Habib al-Ghaith to visit detainees, the group said on its website on Thursday. “I addressed the inspector general to make sure to meet the [UN] Standard Minimum Rules for the treatment of Prisoners, adopted at the First UN Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders held in Geneva in 1955 and approved by the Economic and Social Council in 1957,” BHRS Deputy Secretary General Issa al-Ghayeb stated.

He said the law requires authorities to provide inmates with health care, sanitary ware, communication with the outside world and exercise. It also demands prison staff to avoid mistreatment of detainees, to provide books and newspapers, and allow freedom of conscience.

The BHRS cited complained from dozens of prisoners abused in jail for taking part in anti-regime demonstrations.

The inmates have filed a lawsuit against the government, saying they were tortured, held in solitary confinement for long hours and denied any contact with the outside world.

Ghayeb expressed hope for the formation of a delegation made up of lawyers, social workers, doctors and members of the BHRS Monitoring Committee to pay unannounced visits to detention centers.

The requests come amid continued regime crackdowns on dissents across Bahrain, more than 10 months into a popular uprising against the ruling Al Khalifa dynasty.

On November 23, an independent inquiry commission mandated to probe the clampdown on ant-government protesters said the regime had used “excessive force” to crush the protests.

The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry urged the Bahraini government to revise verdicts handed down to protesters in military courts, and to set up a compensation fund for victims.

Dozens of demonstrators have been killed by the Saudi-backed regime forces since massive anti-governments erupted in February. …source