Bahrain Mirror: The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) documented in 2023 more than 700 violations carried out by the authorities against citizens, including summonses and arrests, noting that the religious persecution and repression reached their peak last year. BCHR indicated that the repression included the figures and prisoners of conscience. Besides, more than 500 anti-regime marches and vigils were staged last year.

In a report, the Center documented more than 200 cases of arrest on grounds of expressing opinion, noting that some detainees were investigated over participating in popular marches or expressing their opinion on social media outlets, while a number of them were later released.

It pointed out that more than 500 marches and protests were organized to demand the release of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, on top opposition figures detained since 2011, and to appeal for the provision of health care to sick detainees, noting that a number of these marches were suppressed.

The report stated that more than 120 protest marches were organized to reject the aggression on the Gaza Strip and to confirm the categorical rejection of normalization with the occupying entity, and that the authorities summoned more than 100 citizens and interrogated them because they showed solidarity with Palestine, including the former Secretary-General of Wa'ad Society, Ibrahim Sharif.

It warned that religious persecution in Bahrain reached its peak during 2023, as the preacher of the Imam Al-Sadiq Mosque, peace be upon him, in Diraz, Sheikh Mohammad Sanqour, was arrested on May 22, 2023, over a religious sermon in which he condemned normalization and changing of educational curricula and demanded revealing the fate of political prisoners.

The center noted that the authorities besieged Diraz between June 9 and 16, 2023, preventing worshipers from reaching the Imam Al-Sadiq Mosque, and preventing Sheikh Fadel Al-Zaki from entering the region to deliver a jurisprudential lecture.

It drew attention to the attack on the "Sa'asa'a Bin Souhan" mosque and shrine, in the same month, in Al-Askar area, as the security authorities closed its entrance with bricks after a popular campaign calling for its opening and rehabilitation.

The center monitored various violations during the Ashura season, which fell last July, documenting, during the 10 days of the month of Muharram, the summoning of religious scholars and citizens over participating in Ashura ceremonies, and the storming of 10 areas: Al-Markh, A'ali, Al-Ghuraifa, Hamad city , Saar, Barbar, Abu Saiba, Karzakan, Al-Malikiyah, and Samalabad, to remove Ashura manifestations black flags, and Husseini banners.

The report documented the arrest of 5 citizens during the 10 days of Muharram, and mentioned that they were later released. It added that Sheikh Mahmoud Al-Aali was summoned over his participation in commemorating the Ashura speech.

The center said: "In an infringement on religious freedoms, the Minister of Interior, Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, issued a decision on July 20 not to allow preachers and eulogy reciters from outside Bahrain to enter the country during the Ashura season, under the pretext that Manama is not a destination for religious tourism."

The center tackled the ongoing violations of the rights of prisoners of conscience and minor convicts in the Dry Dock Prison, who have repeatedly gone on hunger strike to demand their most basic rights: access to health care, stopping the ill-treatment against them, and their release.

The report recorded a deterioration in the health of many figures and prisoners of conscience, including Sheikh Mirza Al-Mahrous, Sheikh Zuhair Ashour, detainee Habib Al-Fardan, and detained human rights defender Abduljalil Al-Singace.

The center further added that security personnel assaulted detainees inside the prison, and that former political prisoner Mohammad Abdullah was martyred after a long struggle with cancer, which he suffered when he was behind bars and his exposure to medical neglect.

BCHR called on the authorities to release the figures and all those detained for expressing their opinions, and to allow United Nations rapporteurs to visit prisons and meet with prisoners to obtain their rights.

It also called on the authorities to guarantee the right of individuals to demonstrate peacefully and express their opinion, stop the policy of persecution against Shiite citizens and their beliefs, and replace it with enabling these citizens to obtain their basic rights in accordance with international laws.

Arabic Version