British minister calls for the release of political prisoners in Bahrain

For the first time, a British minister in the Conservative government expressed his support for the release of all political prisoners in Bahrain, led by the Bahraini academic Abdul Jalil Al-Singace, who has been on hunger strike for more than a year.

MP Martin Day raised the issue of political detainees in Bahrain, especially Dr. Al-Singace, during an intervention in a session of the British House of Commons, in which he said, “This month, human rights activist Dr. Al-Singace celebrated the one-year anniversary of his solid food strike to demand the return of his research confiscated in Bahrain in 2012, and the government has expressed its deep dissatisfaction with Dr. Al-Singace’s conviction tainted by torture, so can we have a statement from the British government that calls on Bahrain to re-examine Dr. Al-Singace and release him and other leaders of the political opposition immediately and unconditionally from prison?”

Treasury Secretary Mark Spencer responded by joining that demand, hoping the Bahrain government would listen.