Hassan Mushaima, leader of the Bahraini political opposition, was imprisoned in 2011 following the peaceful protests that swept the country’s capital, Manama, during the Arab Spring. In this article, his son, Ali Mushaima – following a surge in international attention over human rights violations in Bahrain, demands that the UK government reconsider its relationship with the al-Khalifa regime and help to secure his father’s release.
I was only 15 years old when I was arrested, imprisoned and tortured, during the 1994-1999 Intifada, the peaceful mass protests that demanded constitutional change.
During this time, my father, Hassan Mushaima, had already spent six years in prison, due to his early involvement in the pro-democracy protests. Over the past three decades, he has spent many more years in prison for his activism and leading role in Bahrain’s political opposition.
My father was the co-founder and secretary-general of the Haq movement, and co-founder and vice president of the now dissolved al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, formerly Bahrain’s largest political opposition group.
In 2011, the mass protests that erupted against the regime and the violent repression that followed, brought back these painful memories for me and my family. Thousands took to the streets demanding an end to tyranny and a peaceful transition to democracy.
This was the moment I realised that it was up to people like myself, my father and thousands of other proud Bahrainis to create a different future for our country. Although I was living in the UK, my heart, mind and soul remained with my people in Bahrain.
On 17 March this year, my 73-year-old father completed ten years in the infamous Jau Prison, where many opponents of the regime are incarcerated. He was arrested in 2011 along with other opposition leaders two days after Saudi and Emirati forces entered Bahrain to suppress the peaceful, popular movement.
He received treatment for cancer in the UK before being imprisoned and presently he suffers from diabetes, gout, heart and prostate problems, and is in remission from lymphoma. In spite of these severe conditions, my father has been routinely denied access to adequate medical care by prison authorities.
On 27 March, a large COVID-19 outbreak was reported in Jau Prison. My father’s health is at particular risk of deteriorating amid this outbreak. .
Mounting pressure
Approximately 100 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in the prison. These new circumstances, combined with the already unsanitary and overcrowded conditions, place not only my father, but potentially thousands of political prisoners at high risk of infection.
There is increasing international scrutiny of the Bahraini authorities for their human rights abuses and the lack of freedom for citizens. On 11 March, the European Parliament passed, with an outstanding majority, an Urgent Motion Resolution on the human rights situation in Bahrain.
On six separate occasions, the UNHRC’s Special Procedures offices have sent communications to Bahrain, pertaining to the treatment of my father. The abuse he has endured constitutes a violation of international detention standards. Several prominent, international human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have raised serious concerns about his case. And in 2018, I carried out a 63-day-long protest (46 days of which were spent on hunger strike) outside Bahrain’s London Embassy, in the hope of saving my father’s life.
The US State Department’s 2020 Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Bahrain, released on 30 March, recognises the widespread use of torture and life-threatening conditions that my father, and many other political prisoners, endure in Jau Prison.
Despite all these attempts to pressurise the al-Khalifa regime into improving my father’s treatment in prison, and ultimately guarantee his safe, unconditional release, there has been no tangible change to his circumstances.
