Bahrain Jau Prison: Rights groups criticize treatment of Jailed hunger strike academic

After over a decade of torment and a year of hunger strike, Abduljalil al-Singace decided to amplify the suffering in protest

In July 2021, the 60-year-old academic started his hunger strike to protest the prison authorities’ act of confiscating his 4 years of work on Bahraini dialects

A year later, he decided to also avoid the salts that were stabilizing his health, in addition to abstaining from solid foods. Al-Singace survived merely on liquids and vitamins, losing over 25kgs in over 365 days

He suffered from several medical conditions:
- Tremors
- Post-polio syndrome
- Numbness
- Severe intermittent headaches
- Diminished eyesight
- Arthritis in his shoulder joint

A family member said, “He is weak. He trembles sometimes. The tips of his fingers are cold. And he is pale.” Al-Singace was arrested for his peaceful role in the 2011 Arab Spring. While his health deteriorated, Bahraini authorities’ behaviour had been outrageous

He had been subjected to excessive torture, while serving life sentence in Jaw prison. Amna Guellali, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said, “He has been behind bars for over a decade solely for exercising his rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and should never have been jailed in the first place.”

She added that the academic was going through unnecessary suffering, and that Bahrain must immediately and unconditionally release him. Rights activists had been calling for Bahrain to hand over his work to his family

They also demanded to provide al-Singace the medication he required. However, Bahraini government spokesperson said, “The quality and standard of healthcare provided to inmates is the same as that provided in the community through the public health system.”

The statement was in sharp contrast to multiple reports that highlighted extensively poor conditions of Bahraini prisons, particularly Jau prison, where inmates are denied medical services and some even died.

#Bahrain #PrisonersofConscience #AbduljalilAlSingace
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