Sadeq Jaafar Ali (AlSammak) was a 16-year-old Bahraini student from the town of Al Aali when he was arrested by Bahraini authorities on 5 October 2017, while he was on his way to school. The arrest was carried out without a warrant. During his detention, he endured torture, insults, solitary confinement, enforced disappearance, isolation, denial of family contact and visits, denial of access to his lawyer, unfair trials, religious discrimination, reprisals, and medical neglect. He is currently serving a 14-year sentence in Jau Prison.
On the morning of 5 October 2017, Sadeq was walking to school when several civilian cars surrounded him, and their passengers arrested him without a warrant. They took Sadeq to the Ministry of Interior (MoI)’s Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID), where he was held in solitary confinement for two and a half months. On the second day of his arrest, he called his family and informed them of his whereabouts. When Sadeq’s family went to the CID, officers refused to disclose the reason for his arrest, and his lawyer was not able to talk to or meet him. Additionally, officers searched Sadeq’s house three times without presenting a search warrant, seizing his father’s properties, including computers and cars, which were never returned.
Sadeq was previously arrested several times in 2015 and 2016 at AlKhamis Police Station and Roundabout 17 Police Station. During these detentions, at the ages of 14 and 15, he was subjected to torture, beatings, and electric shocks. He was later released due to a lack of evidence supporting the charges against him.
While at the CID, officers interrogated, tortured, and subjected Sadeq to enforced disappearance for two and a half months. The CID officers physically beat him, especially in sensitive areas, and subjected him to prolonged solitary confinement and electric shocks to force him to sign pre-written confessions that were later used against him in trials. During these interrogations, the officers did not allow Sadeq to meet or speak with his legal counsel. Furthermore, Sadeq was taken multiple times to the Public Prosecution Office (PPO), where he denied the charges against him and reported the torture he endured. However, he was returned each time to the CID, where he was further tortured to force a confession. After two and a half months of physical and psychological torture, Sadeq finally signed the confession due to exhaustion and fear of further violence. A forensic doctor later confirmed the physical beatings during a medical examination, which the court did not consider in its ruling. Moreover, his family was not allowed to visit him until three months after his arrest, when he was transferred to the Dry Dock Detention Center.
On 4 January 2018, Sadeq’s family filed a complaint with the Ombudsman about the torture he endured during his interrogations at the CID. His family waited two and a half months after his arrest, after he was transferred from the CID, to file a complaint due to fear of further torture by CID officers. Sadeq informed the Ombudsman’s investigator about the torture he endured, particularly in his private area, and he was checked for injuries after submitting the complaint. On 5 March 2018, the Ombudsman responded, stating that their investigation raised suspicion of a criminal offense that falls within the jurisdiction of the Special Investigation Unit (SIU). Consequently, the case was referred to the SIU on 1 March 2018. Sadeq’s family later contacted the SIU, however, it did not provide them with any information about the investigation.
Sadeq was not promptly brought before a judge, did not have adequate time and facilities to prepare for his trials, and was denied access to his lawyers during the trial period. Despite the evidence provided to the judge and the complaint filed with the Ombudsman concerning the torture Sadeq was subjected to, the confessions extracted from him under torture were used as evidence against him. Between March 2018 and May 2022, Sadeq was sentenced in several cases to a total of 14 years and two months in prison, along with the revocation of his citizenship. He was convicted of various charges, including 1) illegal gathering, 2) rioting, 3) arson, 4) joining a terrorist group, 5) endangering people’s lives, 6) importing and possessing explosives, rifles, or weapons without authorization, 7) manufacturing or possessing explosives, and using them to endanger people’s property, 8) training on using weapons to commit terrorist crimes, 9) placing structures simulating the shapes of explosives, 10) initiating an explosion in one of the petrol lines in Buri Town, 11) kidnapping, and 12) assaulting the bodily integrity of others. His convictions included his alleged participation in and joining of the “Bahraini Hezbollah”, an umbrella group used by the government to convict 137 other individuals in a mass trial on 16 April 2019. While awaiting appeal and cassation, officers have either denied Sadeq’s attendance at the proceedings or brought him to the building but prevented him from entering the courtroom. This resulted in his convictions being upheld due to his “absence,” depriving him of a fair appeals process. For instance, the court of appeal sentenced Sadeq in absentia in the case in which he was denaturalized, even though he was on the bus that transferred detainees outside the courtroom, and despite the lawyer’s request for Sadeq to attend. His nationality was later restored through a royal pardon. On 19 January 2021, Sadeq was transferred to the isolation building in Jau Prison.
Throughout his detention, Sadeq has undertaken numerous hunger strikes to protest the poor prison conditions. The longest of these began on 13 October 2021, lasting approximately 16 days, to protest his transfer to the isolation building on 1 January 2021 in Jau Prison without valid reasons, as well as the medical negligence he endured. On 27 October 2021, 14 days into his hunger strike, Sadeq reported in a voice recording that his blood sugar levels had dropped dangerously to 3.1%. He described facing persecution, harassment, and threats to prolong his isolation. Isolated prisoners faced additional punishment such as chaining of their hands and feet if they objected to being segregated from other political prisoners. Sadeq also stated in the recording that he had met with a media committee of an official human rights institution, which pressured him to end his hunger strike without securing any guarantees, instead of urging the prison administration to end his isolation and respond to his demands.
Following his convictions, Sadeq was subjected to numerous forms of physical and psychological torture. Officers beat him with their hands and other objects such as hoses and wires, insulted him, and subjected him to hanging and crucifixion. They falsely accused him of inciting other prisoners to vandalize the prison building, quarrel with police officers, and go on strike. After every prison incident, Sadeq is summoned, interrogated, and beaten without any clear reason. Reprisals against him continue intermittently, including repeated solitary confinement, isolation, discrimination, humiliation based on religion, denial of his right to practice religious rituals, harassment, assaults, and ill-treatment. For instance, when Sadeq was held in isolation with foreign criminal inmates, he was prohibited from leaving his cell or communicating with anyone outside the cell. He was once moved to the outdoor area while shackled at the hands and legs. He was not allowed to leave his cell and was deprived of many necessities, with a policeman bringing him food and water to his cell.
Since 26 March 2024, following the death of political Husain Khalil Ebrahim due to medical neglect, Sadeq has been participating in an ongoing protest with other prisoners against the medical negligence and poor conditions in Jau Prison, demanding the release of prominent elderly opposition leaders, including Mr. Hasan Mushaima and Dr. AbdulJalil AlSingace. In response, the Jau prison administration has cut off water and electricity to the protesting prisoners, prohibited communication, withheld adequate meals and toiletries, and transferred prisoners who left the building for clinic or court to isolation and solitary confinement, depriving them of their rights. The director of Jau Prison, Hisham AlZayani, has also threatened to forcibly return the protesting prisoners to their cells.
Sadeq continues to suffer from medical negligence in Jau Prison, with his health deteriorating due to untreated eczema spreading throughout his body. He also suffers from acne on his face and back caused by unhealthy meals, despite repeatedly requesting healthier food options from the prison administration, but to no avail. Additionally, he has shrapnel from a shotgun in his body that the prison’s administration has repeatedly promised to remove, but this has yet to be done. Proper treatment is often not provided or is given in very limited quantities, and sometimes the treatment provided is inappropriate for his condition. Furthermore, official visits and communications from Sadeq’s family have been cut off for nearly a year. His family has filed several complaints with the Ombudsman regarding the restrictions, medical negligence, insults, and torture he has endured, but these have yielded no results.
Sadeq’s arrest without a warrant as a minor, torture, insults, solitary confinement, enforced disappearance, denial of family contact and visits, isolation, denial of access to legal counsel, unfair trials, religious discrimination, reprisals, and medical neglect all constitute clear violations of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment (CAT), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), to which Bahrain is a party.
As such, Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) calls on the Bahraini authorities to uphold their human rights obligations by immediately and unconditionally releasing Sadeq. Additionally, ADHRB further urges the Bahraini government to investigate allegations of arbitrary arrest, torture, insults, solitary confinement, enforced disappearance, denial of family contact and visits, denial of legal counsel, isolation, religious discrimination, reprisals, medical negligence, and ill-treatment, and to hold perpetrators accountable. ADHRB advocates for the Bahraini government to provide compensation for the injuries he suffered due to torture. At the very least, ADHRB advocates for a fair retrial for Sadeq under the Restorative Justice Law for Children, leading to his release. Additionally, it urges the Jau Prison administration to promptly provide appropriate healthcare for Sadeq, holding it responsible for any further deterioration in his health condition. Furthermore, ADHRB calls on the Jau Prison administration to immediately allow Sadeq to contact his family and receive visits from them. Finally, ADHRB demands that the Jau Prison administration immediately end its retaliatory and degrading treatment of protesting prisoners, including Sadeq, and meet their demands to end their ongoing strike.
