Bahrain Mirror: The European Centre for Democracy and Human Rights, a non-profit organization, launched a website to document the violations political prisoners in Bahrain are subjected to, mainly Hassan Mushaima, one of the prominent opposition leaders in Bahrain.

The website, which is an important step in the process of movements calling for the release of Mushaima and others who were charged with political charges, was established by joint efforts between Mushaima's son, activist Ali Mushaima, and a number of European and British MEPs, who recorded video messages calling for the release of all the political dissidents in Bahrain.

The websites contains several sections, including a timeline documenting all events related to Mushaima as well as all the violations he was subjected to. There is also a section that documents his health condition and another one on the living conditions inside the prisons and the torture prisoners are subjected to, in addition to a time counter that shows the duration he has been serving in jail since his imprisonment.

According to medical reports, Mushaima suffers difficult health conditions, especially in light of the Coronavirus spread, due to the increasing number of infected people inside the prison, which threatens his life and puts him at risk, due to the chronic diseases he suffers from, such as cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and gout.

Hassan Mushaima is serving a life sentence in the notorious Jaw Prison, where his access to medical care has been restricted despite his advanced age and multiple chronic illnesses. He requires over fifteen different types of medication to help with these conditions but has faced restricted access to his medicine. 

As his sentence has progressed, his condition has increasingly deteriorated without access to proper medical care. Since his son has taken up a hunger strike outside of the Bahraini embassy in the United Kingdom, Bahraini authorities have continued to ignore and largely neglect the medical needs of Mushaima.

Ali Mushaima said that the Bahraini government should stop harassing his father, grant him medical care and unconditionally release him.

Indeed, in October 2020, Mr. Mushaima experienced a sudden deterioration in his health after prison authorities repeatedly failed to arrange appointments with medical specialists. He experienced shortness of breath as a result of a sharp increase in his blood pressure. 

The failure of authorities at Jaw Prison to provide Mr. Mushaima with adequate medical care is a longstanding issue that has been widely documented, including by the United Nations and Human Rights Watch.

Mr. Mushaima is rarely provided the specialist care he requires. This treatment is interpreted to be both arbitrary and punitive, with the intention to humiliate and degrade prisoners of conscience. Such treatment contravenes the United Nations (UN) Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, also known as the Mandela Rules.

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