AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2016/17

of protesters for questioning, including at
least 70 Shi’a clerics and several human
rights defenders, charging some with “illegal
gathering”. Courts sentenced 11 Shi’a clerics
to one- or two-year prison terms on the
same charge.
FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT
The authorities imposed administrative bans
that prevented at least 30 human rights
defenders and other critics from travelling
abroad, including to attend meetings of the
UN Human Rights Council in Geneva,
Switzerland. At least 12 of them were later
charged, including with “illegal gathering”.
Deprivation of nationality and forced expulsions
The authorities obtained court orders that
stripped at least 80 people convicted of
terrorism-related offences of their Bahraini
nationality, rendering many of them stateless.
In June the Ministry of the Interior also
revoked the nationality of Sheikh Issa
Qassem, al-Wefaq’s spiritual leader; he had
not been convicted of any offence. The
authorities forcibly expelled four of those
whose citizenship they had withdrawn,
including human rights lawyer Taimoor
Karimi. An appeal court ruled in March that
prisoner of conscience Ibrahim Karimi should
be forcibly expelled from Bahrain when he
completes his 25-month prison sentence in
2018.
TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT
Torture and other ill-treatment continued to
be reported, particularly of people suspected
of terrorism and other offences under
interrogation by the police Criminal
Investigations Directorate. Unfair trials
continued; courts continued to rely on
allegedly coerced “confessions” to convict
defendants on terrorism-related charges.
Prisoners held at Dry Dock Prison and Jaw
Prison complained of ill-treatment, including
solitary confinement and inadequate
medical care.
IMPUNITY
Impunity continued largely to prevail although
the Ombudsman of the Ministry of the
Interior and Special Investigations Unit (SIU)
within the Public Prosecution Office
continued to investigate alleged human rights
violations by the security forces. Several lowranking
members of the security forces were
prosecuted, but no senior officers.
The SIU said it received at least 225
complaints and referred 11 members of the
security forces for trial on assault charges
during the year. At least four members of the
security forces were convicted and at least 12
acquitted during the year. In January the
Court of Appeal increased from two to seven
years the prison sentences imposed on two
police officers for causing the death in
custody of Ali Issa Ibrahim al-Saqer in 2011.
In March the Court sentenced a police officer
to three years’ imprisonment for the unlawful
killing of Fadhel Abbas Muslim Marhoon in
2014, overturning his earlier acquittal.
In February the Court of Appeal confirmed
the acquittal of a police officer whose
shooting of a peaceful protester at close
range in January 2015 was captured on film,
ruling that there was no evidence confirming
the victim’s presence or any injuries found,
despite the video footage. In March the Court
overturned the convictions of three police
officers sentenced in 2015 for causing the
death in custody of Hassan Majeed al-Shaikh
in November 2014, and reduced the
sentences of three other officers from five to
two years.
RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL,
TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE
The authorities continued to prosecute and
imprison people for same-sex sexual conduct
under “debauchery” and “obscenity”
provisions of the Penal Code.
In January and February, the courts
rejected applications by three Bahrainis who
had undergone sex-change operations
abroad to change their gender in official
documents.
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