11 January, 2012
Mr. Malick El Hadji Sow
Chairperson
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
C/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006
Email: mdelalama@ohchr.org
Re: Denial of cancer treatment to Hassan Mushaima, and the brutal beating of Nabeel Rajab by security forces
Dear Mr. Malick El Hadji Sow ,
I would like to bring to your attention the campaign of intimidation and maltreatment of Hassan Mushaima by the Bahraini prison authorities, which has persisted since June of 2011.
Hassan Mushaima is the leader of the Haq Movement in Bahrain. He was sentenced by a military court in June to life imprisonment, along with 13 other activists who received sentences which varied between life and 2 years. He was imprisoned for leading and taking part in the country's mass demonstrations against the Bahraini regime in the spring.
Since being imprisoned, Hassan has been denied the basic treatment that he requires to prevent his cancer from recurring. He was put on this course of treatment in 2010 by medical experts at the Royal Marsden hospital in London, having had his cancer successfully treated.
According to his family, the 64 year old opposition leader is in particularly frail health due to being neglected and maltreated while in prison. His family is concerned that if he does not receive his cancer treatment in this particular state, it will increase the risk of his cancer returning and spreading in his body.
The family of Hassan Mushaima has also raised concerns about what can only be regarded as suspicious and abnormal treatment given to him by the prison authorities. This includes being blindfolded and taken to be forcibly injected with substances that remain unknown, as the prison's hospital ward has refused to disclose this information to Mushaima's lawyers. This has in particular become a standard practise when dealing with Hassan, who has complained of being blindfolded and forcibly injected since prior to when these matters were first raised by human rights groups in October 2011.
The unjust treatment of Hassan Mushaima by the Bahraini prison authorities has been mirrored by the regime security forces' attack on Nabeel Rajab on 6 January 2012. Nabeel is the president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, and was severely beaten by riot police as he attended a peaceful demonstration against the regime in Manama. He suffered injuries to his face and back.
As the ChairpersonWorking Group on Arbitrary Detention, I respectfully ask that use your influence to pressure the Bahraini regime to cease violating the basic rights of Hassan Mushaima by allowing him the cancer treatments that he requires. You must use your power to ensure that the intimidation of Hassan ends, and that he is given adequate care that he requires for his illnesses.
I also request that you press the Bahraini regime to order its prison authorities to disclose the substances that were forcibly injected into Hassan Mushaima, and have the matter investigated independently and transparently. I trust that you will remember your duties to a political prisoner like Hassan Mushaima, whose ill health is being used as a weapon by the Bahraini regime to intimidate its political opposition – and perhaps even worse – to silence its most influential opponents.
I also ask that you press for an immediate independent inquiry into the severe beating of Nabeel Rajab, and the conduct of the security forces in dispersing a protest which was clearly peaceful.
Do not be an accomplice to the regime's silencing of its most influential opponents, and do not be fooled by their promises of "reform".
I await eagerly for your response.
Yours sincerely,
William Nicholas Gomes
William's Desk
--
William Nicholas GomesJournalist & Human Rights Activist
80/ B Bramon Chiron, Saydabad,
Dhaka-1203, Bangladesh.
Cell: +88 019 7 444 0 666
E-mail:William [at] williamgomes.org,editorbd[at]gmail.com
Skype: William.gomes9
Face book: www.facebook.com/williamnicholasgomes
Twitter: twitter.com/williamgomes
Web site :www.williamgomes.org
--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
No comments:
Post a Comment