Bahrain: Sentenced to 15 Years on Basis of Confessions Obtained Under Torture

On 13 November 2015, Alkarama sent a communication to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (SRT) regarding the case of Radhi Ali Radhi Abdulrasool, employed at the Zein Telecommunication company, arrested by members of the Bahraini police in November 2012. Radhi was sentenced to 25 years in prison on 7 October 2013, a conviction based on confessions obtained under torture during his pre-trial detention, which was later reduced to 15 years on appeal.

Arrest and Torture

On 29 November 2012, 30-year-old Radhi was arrested in Manama by a group of armed men dressed in civilian clothes who identified themselves as members of the Bahraini police. The men beat Radhi up before taking him to Manama's Criminal Investigation Centre where he was detained for five days before being transferred to the East Riffa Detention Centre. A few months later, at the end of March 2013, Radhi was transferred to the Dry Dock Prison in Al Hidd, a town in Bahrain, located on a sand spit on the south-eastern extremity of Muharraq Island, where he stayed until he was sentenced to 25 years in prison on 7 October 2013.

During his pre-trial detention, Radhi was subjected to periods of incommunicado detention, during which he was tortured by the detaining authorities in order to obtain confessions, which were later used as the basis for his conviction. Among other acts of torture, Radhi was severely beaten with an iron bar, forced to strip during interrogations and deprived of sleep. He was also denied medical care for two months after his arrest. Moreover, despite reporting the ill-treatment to the court which was trying him, the Fourth High Criminal Court of Manama, no investigation was opened to look into these facts.

Instead, Radhi was sentenced to 25 years for "possession of explosive materials," "manufacturing explosives" and "bombing the Manama's exhibition centre." If his judgment was reduced to 15 years following his lawyer's first appeal, his second appeal is still pending before the court of cassation. As for the several complaints of ill-treatment with the Department of Public Prosecution and the General Secretariat of Grievances filed by his family filed, they were of no avail.

Alkarama's actions

Left without any resort at the national level, Radhi's family turned to Alkarama in the hope that this human rights organisation could help guarantee his physical and psychological health. In view of these facts, Alkarama seized the Special Rapporteur on torture (SRT) and requested him to call upon the Bahraini authorities to render Radhi Ali Radhi Abdulrasool's sentence null and void, that he be retried by a fair and independent court and that the Public Prosecutor opens an investigation on the acts of torture committed against him.

Concerned about the widespread practice of torture in Bahrain, particularly practiced with the goal of extracting confessions as documented by Alkarama in several cases, including that of school bus driver Mohamed, severely torture during pre-trial detention − Alkarama calls on the Bahraini authorities to:

• Put an end to the practice of torture; and
• Ensure that allegations of torture are the object of impartial and independent investigations.

For more information or an interview, please contact the media team at media@alkarama.org (Dir: +41 22 734 1008)