Bahrain: 17-year-old student arrested and tortured in order to extract confessions

In the early morning of 20 February 2016, about 12 members of the Intelligence Services of the Criminal Investigation Directorate in civilian clothes stormed the house of 17-year-old student Fadhel Abbas Ali Hassan Jayed. After searching his room, they arrested him and confiscated his phone. No warrant was shown and they did not provide any explanation for the arrest. Fadhel was then taken to the Criminal Investigation Directorate, where he was tortured with electric shocks, beaten, kicked and slapped on the face and head by masked men. Then he was forced to sign confessions stating that on 2 December 2015 and 14 February 2016, he participated in illegal gatherings and was in possession of Molotov cocktails.

The following day, he was taken to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, where he was interrogated and threatened with torture in case he denied the charges. In view of this threat, Fadhel did not deny the facts of which he was accused, despite telling his family that he did not commit them. His family appointed a lawyer for Fadhel, who presented himself at the Public Prosecutor’s Office; nevertheless, the lawyer was not allowed to be present during the interrogation or to contact the prosecutor to obtain information on the case. That night, Fadhel was taken to the Dry Dock Prison, where he is still detained and is allowed to receive weekly visits that last less than half an hour. Furthermore, Fadhel’s family is worried about his health, as since his arrest he did not receive any medical treatment, despite the fact that he suffers permanent nosebleeds.

Concerned over Fadhel’s case, Alkarama seized the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture (SRT), Juan E. Méndez, asking his urgent intervention with the Bahraini authorities to call upon them to immediately release Fadhel and open an investigation into the alleged acts of torture committed against him. All evidence obtained through torture must be disregarded and, should any criminal procedures against him continue, he shall have unrestricted access to a lawyer.

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