Bahrain Mirror: Bahrain Forum for Human Rights (BFHR) organized on Tuesday evening, February 7, 2023 a symposium via Instagram entitled "Prisoners of Conscience: Relentless Repression".

In his intervention during the symposium, activist and father of detainee, Mr. Ali Mhanna, stressed that "the suffering revealed by the prisoners through audio recordings is only a small part of the ill-treatment that cannot be tolerated. These recordings are considered a risk and will expose them to rtaliation, but it is an attempt to raise their voice."

"Since 2011, MPs have been ignoring their duty towards the detainees and their wasted rights," he said, revealing that he tried to communicate with several MPs, but they "apologized because they were afraid to even expose this grievance in light of the complicity and shameful silence of other government bodies."

BFHR president, Baqer Darwish, described the current collective strike of detainees and their human rights discourse as "advanced and positive," calling for putting pressure on the administration of the Jaw Central Prison.

Political activist Jaafar Yahya pointed out that "the intuitive rights and freedoms demanded by prisoners are systematic and cannot be tolerated without exceptional patience," holding the House of Representatives "responsible for following up and establishing committees to investigate the abuses revealed by the detainees in their recordings." He also held the international community "responsible for providing justice to these innocent people in the cells."

Moderator of the symposium and activist Ahmed Al-Mutghawi stressed that human rights watchdogs ignore what is happening in prisons, calling for "advocating for prisoners of conscience by all means of pressure."

Mohammed Sultan, an advocacy officer at SALAM, pointed out that "the sustainable development that the government of Bahrain claims to seek cannot be achieved in the presence of prisoners of conscience," calling for "not betting on breaking the will of the Bahraini people through arbitrary arrests, because people will be more steadfast in demanding their rights and demands."

Arabic Version