Amnesty slams Bahrain’s ‘cruel, inhumane’ treatment of jailed activists

Amnesty International has blasted Bahrain for denying vital medical care to jailed pro-democracy activists, saying the cruel and inhumane practice is putting the prisoners’ lives at risk.

Amnesty International has blasted Bahrain for denying vital medical care to jailed pro-democracy activists, saying the cruel and inhumane practice is putting the prisoners’ lives at risk.

The London-based rights group said on Monday that Bahraini authorities have for over a year deliberately subjected four elderly prisoners of conscience, Hassan Mushaima, Abdel-Jalil al-Singace, Abdel-Wahab Hussain and Abdel-Jalil al-Miqdad, to ill-treatment.

Lynn Maalouf, Middle East research director at Amnesty International, called for the swift release of the four men, who are “frail and suffering the severe debilitations that come with serious chronic illnesses such as hypertension and diabetes.”

“That anyone can bring themselves to treat people with such cruelty is unbelievable,” she said, adding that the activists “have been imprisoned solely for taking part in peaceful protests.”

Maalouf also complained that the Bahraini authorities’ treatment of the activists “violates international law and standards on prisoner treatment and constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment.”