IV. Allegations of Torture or Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment

Based upon its interviews and review of the documentary record, Human Rights Watch has concluded that there is credible evidence demonstrating that, since December 2007, Bahraini security forces[90] have:

• used electro-shock devices against detainees;
• suspended detainees in painful positions;
• beat detainees’ feet with rubber hoses and/or batons;
• slapped, punched, and kicked detainees, and beaten them with implements;
• forced detainees to stand for prolonged periods of time; and
• threatened detainees with death and rape.

The use of these techniques, separately and in combination, violates Bahrain’s obligations under international and national law, as reference to any number of authorities makes plain. For example, international courts have repeatedly classified the use of electro-shock devices as torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.[91] Similarly, courts have found that suspending victims by their arms and legs constitutes torture.[92] Further, courts have characterized the beating of feet as torture,[93] and have deemed other forms of beating to be torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.[94] International tribunals have also concluded that standing for great lengths of time amounts to torture or inhuman treatment.[95] In addition, threats to torture, rape and/or kill have been found to constitute torture and/or inhuman treatment.[96]

The testimonies that follow are organized by the types of torture and abuse that were reported to Human Rights Watch. In many cases, the same individual alleged that he was subjected to two or more types of torture or abuse. We provide some background on each individual the first time a detailed portion of his account appears.

Seventeen of the men also identified one or more of the officers from the CID or NSA who they claimed participated in their torture. The officers named were Major Yusuf al-Arabi, Captain Fahd Fadalah, Captain Bassam al-Muraj, and Lieutenant Isa al-Majali of the CID and First Lieutenant Badr al-Ghaith of the NSA. Human Rights Watch was able to confirm that all these men are in fact officers working for the Ministry of the Interior or the NSA.  However, at this writing, in January 2010, Human Rights Watch has received no response to letters addressed to the Minister of Justice and the ministry of interior inquiring as to whether complaints of torture or ill-treatment had been made against these officers, or whether their superiors had ever questioned them about the treatment of detainees.[97]

Use of Electro-Shock Devices

Eleven of the 20 former detainees Human Rights Watch interviewed for this report said that security forces had subjected them to electro-shock devices. From the descriptions offered, these devices likely were stun guns (shaped like an electric shaver) or—in at least one instance—a cattle prod (shaped like a stick).[98] When held against a nerve cluster for several seconds, a stun gun immobilizes the victim’s body. If applied for shorter periods, a stun gun will create the sensation of a powerful punch or kick.[99] Although when used properly stun guns leave little in the way of marks (see below), it is not uncommon for the application of a stun gun to leave small, short-term burns that form thin scabs before disappearing within a week or two.[100] 

The individuals interviewed reported that security forces employed electro-shock devices, by and large, during the early stages of detention while interrogations were ongoing.

Yassin Ali Ahmad Mushaima

On December 20, 2008, Yassin Mushaima, an unemployed single 21-year-old, went to the NSA headquarters at the Manama Police Fort after learning that security forces had been looking for him at his home. There, officers arrested Mushaima and interrogated him about pipes that they said he used for bomb-making.[101] Mushaima was also questioned as to whether prominent Shia opposition leaders—specifically, Hassan Mushaima and Shaikh Muhammad Habib al-Moqdad—were funding illegal activities.[102]

“I was standing with my hands cuffed in front of me,” Mushaima said. “They said I should confess or they would hit me. I heard something that sounded like a bug zapper; they were trying to frighten me. They put a device on my hand for a second which made me shiver.” Mushaima reported that after 10 to 15 minutes of additional questioning, the officers applied the device to his stomach, causing him to fall. “They kicked me until I stood up and then they started slapping my face and hitting my legs,” he said. “Maybe 30 minutes later they put the device on my penis for just one shot. I was wearing pants, but it made me feel lost and numb.” According to Mushaima, during an interrogation the following day, agents took off his clothes and put the electro-shock device on his penis again.

Mushaima told Human Rights Watch that he was later taken to Dry Dock. There officers applied an electro-shock device to his genitals and other parts of his body on four or five occasions during interrogations over the course of Mushaima’s first 15 days at the facility. Mushaima said that the electro-shock devices left temporary dark marks on his hands, feet, chest, and penis. At a court hearing on February 22, Mushaima said, he told the judge that he was innocent and had been subjected to torture. According to Mushaima, the judge said he did not want to hear the details.

Mushaima was one of the Hujaira defendants whose purported confession was broadcast on Bahraini television. He claimed that an officer with an Egyptian accent told him that if he spoke with “the shaikh” he would be freed the next day. “They took me to a villa,” Mushaima told Human Rights Watch. “I sat down in one place but they said I should sit over in another place. They removed my blindfold. The shaikh was sitting across from me. He kept asking me to speak more loudly, although others in the room were speaking normally. The officers had told me what to say, so when he asked how I was being treated, I said, ‘Very good, OK.’ My face was swollen, and my shirt had sleeves to cover the scars. I only learned many days later that this was on television.”[103]

Muhammad al-Hamadi

Muhammad al-Hamadi is a 29-year-old single man who works as a hospital cashier. Security forces arrested him on December 16, 2008, at his home and took him to the CID compound in Adliya. Hamadi reported that at Adliya, officers with Egyptian accents (al-Hamadi was blindfolded, but said he recognized Egyptian accents) told him that he had been arrested because he was a bomb maker in a terrorist group. When al-Hamadi replied that he knew nothing about bomb making, one of the officers with an Egyptian accent said, “We’ll help you remember.”

“They ripped my pants and shirt, and tore off all my clothes,” al-Hamadi said. “They made me lie on my side on the floor. I was handcuffed and they held my legs down. An Egyptian was holding an electric device and he put it on my sexual parts. He put it on and off many times.”[104] Al-Hamadi reported that the device was never placed on his body for more than a second or two.

Al-Hamadi said that, later, officers pulled his hands (still cuffed) in front of his knees, and secured a bar behind his knees.  They put the ends of the bar on chairs so that al-Hamadi was suspended upside down (see Muhammad al-Singace’s detailed description of this “parrot” suspension position in the next section). While asking him about the location of bombs, officers again applied the electro-shock device. Al-Hamadi reported that he was subjected to electro-shock devices periodically during his first three days in detention. After approximately a week, he said, he was moved to Dry Dock. There he reported that an officer with the NSA applied an electro-shock device to his genitals twice.

Al-Hamadi was another al-Hujaira defendant whose “confession” was broadcast on television. According to al-Hamadi, an officer came to him in Dry Dock and said, “You will meet an important person today. He will be your link to the king. You must admit that you made bombs and that Hassan Mushaima incited you to do it. Then, the king will amnesty you.”

Al-Hamadi said he was then brought to a “villa” in which he was introduced to the director of the NSA.[105] Al-Hamadi said that the director then introduced him to a “shaikh” and instructed al-Hamadi to say that he had been involved with bomb making at the instigation of Hassan Mushaima, Shaikh Muhammad Habib al-Moqdad, and Abdul-Jalil al-Singace (all prominent opposition figures). Al-Hamadi said that he sat on a couch with the NSA director on one side of him and the shaikh on the other, repeating everything that the director told him to say.[106]

Muhsin Ahmad al-Gassab

Muhsin al-Gassab, 32, works in human resources for a private company. He is married and has a daughter. On December 23, 2008, plainclothes security forces arrested al-Gassab at his home at 5 a.m. and took him in an unmarked car to Dry Dock; he said it was only after his family visited him a month later that he learned he was being held in the Dry Dock facility. “I asked where I was but they would not even tell me the time,” he told Human Rights Watch.

In Dry Dock, an officer who said he was from the NSA questioned al-Gassab. “When I asked what this was about, the officer replied, ‘You should tell me,’” al-Gassab said. He reported that most of the questioning concerned trips he had taken to Syria and Turkey; the officer asserted that he had received “terrorist training” in Syria. Al-Gassab said he was punched and beaten during the first interrogation session.

On one occasion, al-Gassab said, guards cuffed his hands behind his back and removed his clothing. “They stripped me completely naked except the blindfold,” he said. “When I resisted them taking off my pants, they slapped me on the head until I stopped. Then I heard the sound of sparks, like when you use jumper cables to start a car.” The guards applied an electro-shock device to al-Gassab’s genitals, hands, stomach, back, legs and feet. More specifically, the guards applied the device for a second before removing it and pausing for a moment. Then, they applied the device to another part of al-Gassab’s body for a second before removing it again. On a few occasions, guards put the device on al-Gassab for several seconds, which caused him to fall.[107] Al-Gassab reported that this pattern was repeated for what seemed like hours (with sporadic breaks) and that he was repeatedly told to confess to having trained in Syria. Al-Gassab said that his tormentors told him that others had already confessed. “There are people stronger than you who talked,” al-Gassab said they told him. “If you don’t you’ll suffer the fate of those before you.”

After this first session, according to al-Gassab, officers used the electro-shock device on his arm several times on each of three additional days. The device was not used following al-Gassab’s first week of detention. Al-Gassab stated that the device left temporary black marks on his bicep, sternum, thigh, and penis.

Al-Gassab said that when officers took him to the Public Prosecution Office on his fourth day of detention, his blindfold was removed. “There I saw [myself in] a mirror for the first time,” he said. “I had a swollen eye, all red, and dried blood around my nose.” He said the prosecutor asked him if he had been beaten or subjected to abuse, and that he showed the prosecutor marks on his thigh from the electro-shock device. The prosecutor agreed to a request from al-Gassab’s lawyer for an examination by a forensic doctor. Al-Gassab said he saw the doctor several days later and that the doctor took photos of the marks on his body with a mobile phone. According to al-Gassab, the doctor said that the photos would be sent to the prosecutor, but al-Gassab does not believe that the photographs are in his official file.[108] A report by a doctor with the Public Prosecution Office stated that al-Gassab had bruises on his leg and stomach as of December 27, 2008.[109]

Al-Gassab said he was held for about 100 days, all but the last 10 days in solitary confinement.[110]

Hassan Jassim Muhammad Makki

Hassan Makki is a married, 29-year-old father of one who had worked as a bus driver prior to his arrest. It was Makki’s brother, Ali, whose death on December 17, 2007, led to violent clashes between protestors and security forces in Jidhafs and other Shia villages and neighborhoods. On December 18, 2008, Makki went to see his lawyer after learning that security forces had been looking for him; he was arrested before reaching his lawyer’s office. Security forces took Makki to the NSA headquarters at the Manama Police Fort.

According to Makki, officers at the Police Fort taunted him upon his arrival, saying, “Welcome to the brother of the martyr.” The officers handcuffed and blindfolded Makki before removing his clothes. They then applied an electro-shock device to his genitals for a second or two before removing it. This process was repeated for several minutes before two officers with Egyptian accents told Makki to confess. Makki reported that over the next two days agents applied the electro-shock device to him intermittently during sessions that typically lasted 10 minutes, usually focusing on the genitals. The agents continually asked about the location of bombs while applying the device. Makki reported that after two days he was taken to Dry Dock, where officers applied the electro-shock device every day or two, generally over the course of five-minute periods with an hour’s break in between. The device left temporary black marks on his penis, Makki said.[111]

Naji Ali Hassan Fateel

Naji Fateel is a 35-year-old, married father of three who earns a living by performing maintenance work. Fateel was arrested on December 21, 2007 at his home at 8 a.m. Officers took Fateel to Adliya, where they forced him to stand in the CID compound’s yard until 7 p.m.

Later authorities moved Fateel to an office where he encountered Isa al-Majali.[112] Al-Majali accused him of setting fire to a Special Forces jeep and stealing a weapon from the vehicle during the December 21 Jidhafs clashes.[113] Fateel denied the accusations. According to Fateel, al-Majali “started calm, but then got angry.” Two agents, who Fateel said had been standing behind him, kicked him in the back of the knee and the lower back, and punched him. Then, he said, they used two separate devices to inflict electro-shocks on his torso and neck; one of the devices had the shape of a stick, he said, and the other looked like an electric shaver with two small electrodes sticking out of it.[114] Fateel reported that the agents applied the devices to him in response to subtle signs that al-Majali made, such as moving an ashtray on his desk.[115] Later that evening, while Fateel was suspended from the ceiling (as discussed below), officers applied an electro-shock device to him with a particular emphasis on his genitals. Fateel lost consciousness at times during this episode. According to Fateel, the electro-shock device left temporary burn marks on his body.

Fateel told Human Rights Watch that officers took him to the Public Prosecution Office around midnight on the day of his arrest. He reported that he met for approximately an hour with a prosecutor who questioned him about the burning of a police jeep and the alleged theft of a weapon in Jidhafs. Fateel told the prosecutor about the abuse that he had suffered. A medical examiner in the Public Prosecution Office examined Fateel approximately a week after he had first been detained. According to Fateel, during this 10-minute examination the doctor saw burn marks from an electro-shock device, but said simply that they were minor injuries. The doctor did not comment on the bruises and swelling that Fateel said were evident on his face at the time.[116]

Muhammad Makki Hamad

Muhammad Hamad, a 20-year-old unemployed high-school graduate from Sanabis, told Human Rights Watch that he had been active with the Unemployment and Low Income Committee. He told Human Rights Watch that he was arrested at about 3 a.m. on December 24, 2007, and detained for approximately seven months. He said that during interrogation sessions in the initial period of his detention security officials badly beat him. On the second night of his detention, he said, while he was suspended naked by his wrists, officers subjected him to an electro-shock device, applying the device to his underarms and his penis. Hamad said that one officer who appeared to be in charge, a captain with the CID, had also been among the group of officers who arrested him and beat him while transporting him to the CID compound. Hamad told Human Rights Watch that the same man participated in the interrogation session, although he did not think he was present during the electro-shock torture.[117]

Other detainees

Five other former detainees—Maytham al-Shaikh, Isa Abdullah Isa, Ahmad Abd al-Hadi, and two who requested they not be named—told Human Rights Watch that security forces subjected them to electro-shock devices during the initial periods of their detentions.[118]

In addition, Ahmad Jaffer Muhammad reported that an officer showed him a black device that looked like an electric shaver (evidently a stun gun), and threatened to use it, but ultimately did not.[119] Another individual, who did not wish to be named, also said that officers threatened to subject him to an electro-shock device, but did not do so.[120]

Documentary evidence

Human Rights Watch reviewed several documents that appeared to corroborate allegations regarding the use of electro-shock devices. For example, a report by Ministry of Health doctors regarding Muhammad Tarif (whom Human Rights Watch was not able to interview) states that bruises on Tarif’s hand may have been the result of burns.[121] As discussed, stun guns can cause short-term burns that form scabs.[122] Further, public prosecutor minutes regarding the interrogation of Abd al-Reda al-Saffar note an injury to al-Saffar’s left leg, which al-Saffar told prosecutors resulted from an electro-shock.[123]

The absence of substantial documentary evidence of electro-shock torture is not particularly probative because, when used carefully, stun guns (the electro-shock device described by former detainees in almost all instances) leave few marks and such marks typically heal quickly.[124] Indeed, torturers employ electro-shock devices in part because, while the applications are extremely painful, their surface physical effects are difficult if not impossible to detect afterwards.[125]

Suspension in Painful Positions

Of the 20 former detainees whom Human Rights Watch interviewed, 16 reported being suspended in painful positions in one manner or another. More specifically, the former detainees described:

• being suspended by their wrists with their hands pulled over their heads;
• being laid on their stomachs and then suspended off the ground with their ankles and wrists tied together behind their backs; and/or
• being suspended by a bar or pole affixed under the knees and raised onto supports.[126]

Several former detainees also reported that security forces cuffed their hands behind their backs, pulled their hands up, and attached the handcuffs to the grate covering a window air conditioner.

Ahmad Jaffer Muhammad

Ahmad Muhammad, 35, is married with two daughters. He does administrative work for a major international bank. He told Human Rights Watch that Special Security Forces arrested him in the early morning hours of December 28, 2007, and brought him to the CID compound in Adliya. There, Muhammad was blindfolded before being taken to a dark room where someone told him that he had no rights under unspecified new terrorism laws in Bahrain. Someone else said to Muhammad, who was working as a clerk in the Interior Ministry at the time, “You work for us, but really you are against us.”

According to Muhammad, guards took him to another room and placed pieces of cloth around his wrists before placing handcuffs on the pieces of cloth and cuffing his hands in front of him. Muhammad said that the guards then lifted him and put the chain of the handcuffs over an object above his head that he believes was a pipe. When the guards released Muhammad, he was fully suspended in the air. Muhammad estimates that he remained suspended for 10 to 15 minutes while officers hit him with what felt like a rubber hose and kicked him. “I was moving frantically because of the pain in my wrists and shoulder,” Muhammad said. “I bloodied my toes kicking them against the wall without shoes on. They still hurt now.” One of the guards or interrogators told Muhammad to disclose the whereabouts of “the gun.” Muhammad said that he knew nothing about a weapon.

Eventually, the guards lowered Muhammad to the floor and brought him to an office, where his blindfold was removed. A supervisory officer asked, “Was that enough to talk about the rifle?” When Muhammad said again that he knew nothing about a weapon, guards took him back to the same room and suspended him in the same way. Later that night, guards took Muhammad to a stairwell where they cuffed his hands (with no cloth) and placed the chain of the handcuffs over a rail above his head. Muhammad, who could barely touch the floor, estimates that he remained in this position for an hour.

Muhammad told Human Rights Watch that officers brought him to the Public Prosecution Office after midnight, approximately 24 hours following his arrest. There he met with Wael Boualay, a prosecutor. According to Muhammad, Boualay accused him of having stolen a rifle from a police car after threatening a police officer who was in the car with a machete, causing the officer to flee. Muhammad asked how he could have threatened an armed officer, allegedly before he stole the gun at issue. Boualay simply repeated the accusations, Muhammad said. Muhammad told Boualay that he had been suspended off the floor and showed Boualay a bruise on his leg that he said was the result of being kicked. Boualay had no response. After a meeting that lasted several hours, Muhammad signed a statement without reading it, feeling that he had no choice but to sign.

Muhammad told Human Rights Watch that at the first court proceeding in the Jidhafs case, he and others related the abuses they had suffered to the court.[127] Ministry of Health doctors later examined Muhammad upon the court’s direction and found healed wounds on Muhammad’s wrist that they concluded could have resulted from pressure applied by handcuffs.[128]

Ahmad Abd al-Hadi

On December 22, 2007, security forces arrested Ahmad Abd al-Hadi, then 17 years old; at the time Human Rights Watch spoke with him, Abd al-Hadi was 19 and had just finished high school. Abd al-Hadi had been in detention for approximately five days when he was taken outside at the CID compound (after being subjected to electro-shocks). There, he said, an officer asked him where “the gun” was and he replied that he did not know. Someone then told Abd al-Hadi, “I advise you to confess before you hang, because people cannot bear it.” When Abd al-Hadi said that he had nothing to confess, the officer told him, “If you bring me the gun, I will take you to your examination [for high school] tomorrow.” Abd al-Hadi said that he would disclose information if he had any.

Abd al-Hadi stated that the guards then took him inside to a stairwell. They cuffed his hands after wrapping pieces of cloth around his wrists. They made him stand on a chair, and someone reaching from above pulled his hands over his head before attaching a second pair of cuffs to those Abd al-Hadi was already wearing. The guards then attached the second pair to a handrail on the stairs. A guard said, “This is your last chance.”

Someone kicked the chair away and Abd al-Hadi was suspended in the air with his feet not touching ground. When he screamed “Get me down,” a guard hit him in the stomach, saying “Don’t yell. Tell me where the gun is.” Abd al-Hadi screamed in pain nonetheless. After a few minutes, he said, guards detached the cuffs from the rail and he fell to the ground. A few moments after that, the guards suspended Abd al-Hadi again in the same manner, this time for perhaps 10 minutes. They repeated the process a third time after which Abd al-Hadi overheard someone say, “If he had anything to say, he would have said it.” Guards then took Abd al-Hadi to an office, where, he said, an officer remarked, “He doesn’t know anything.” Abd al-Hadi was not subjected to any significant abuse thereafter.

Abd al-Hadi told Human Rights Watch that during the Jidhafs case court proceedings in 2008 (and after approximately three-and-a-half months of detention), he was examined by a Dr. al-Arady and other physicians from the Ministry of Health. Abd al-Hadi said that he reported the abuse he had suffered to these doctors, including the suspension and use of electro-shock devices. According to Abd al-Hadi, Dr. al-Arady noted the pain in Abd al-Hadi’s joints and that Abd al-Hadi had a burn that was healing.[129]

Human Rights Watch reviewed a report by Dr. Ali al-Arady and two other physicians that was submitted to the court. The report noted that Abd al-Hadi complained of “hanging” and of being “electrocuted.” The report stated further that Abd al-Hadi had painful limitations to his shoulder mobility which could have been caused by “wrist hanging,” and a healed wound that could indicate he had suffered from a burn.[130]

Maytham Badr Jassim al-Shaikh

Maytham al-Shaikh, a 33-year-old married father of two, worked as a safety officer for a construction company until he was arrested by CID forces in his father’s home at approximately 4 a.m. on December 21, 2007. Officers brought al-Shaikh to CID headquarters at Adliya upon his arrest; after four days, he was told that he was being charged with stealing an assault rifle from a police car.

Shortly after al-Shaikh’s arrival in Adliya, guards took him to a stairwell. They placed his handcuffs on a rail above his head and let him hang in the air for what he said felt like hours. Al-Shaikh reported that when he was released he had no feeling in his hands. Guards repeated this process later that day.

Al-Shaikh said that officers took him to the Public Prosecution Office at 4 a.m. on the fourth day of his detention (and after he had been subjected to electro-shock devices and suspension, as discussed above, as well as beatings, as will be discussed below). There, al-Shaikh met with Ahmad Bucceri, a prosecutor. Al-Shaikh said he requested a lawyer, but Bucceri told him that no lawyer was available and began questioning him about events in Jidhafs. According to al-Shaikh, when he said that he had not been at the protests, Bucceri told him to sign a paper, without allowing him to read it.

When al-Shaikh attempted instead to describe the abuses he had suffered, he said Bucceri responded, “Do not tell me about that.” Al-Shaikh was then taken to another room where officers beat his stomach, his back, and the back of his head with their hands and feet; according to al-Shaikh the officers seemed to take care not to hit his face. The officers returned al-Shaikh to Bucceri’s office. Bucceri smiled and pointed to the paper. Al-Shaikh signed the document, which he said contained false information, in the hope of avoiding further abuse. Al-Shaikh was made to stand near a wall in the CID compound after returning there and to his surprise—in light of his “confession”—guards periodically hit him as they walked by.

Al-Shaikh said that an Egyptian doctor working for the Public Prosecution Office examined him approximately one month after he was arrested. Al-Shaikh told the doctor about having been suspended. According to al-Shaikh, the doctor said, “Bahrainis learned about hanging from the Egyptians.” The doctor told al-Shaikh that he had injuries consistent with being suspended.

Al-Shaikh also reported to Human Rights Watch that during the Jidhafs case proceedings, his lawyers requested an independent medical examination, which the court ordered to be conducted.[131] Ministry of Health doctors concluded in a written report provided to the court that al-Shaikh had a “circular bruise around the wrists, probably caused by handcuffs around the wrists, and pressure on them during hanging.” In addition, X-rays found a sprain in al-Shaikh’s left shoulder joint.[132]

Naji Ali Hassan Fateel

Naji Fateel told Human Rights Watch that after he was subjected to an electro-shock device following his December 2007 arrest, as discussed above, guards blindfolded him and brought him to a room. There, they kicked and punched him until he was bleeding. “Then they handcuffed me and attached my handcuffs to a rope that was hanging down,” Fateel said. “They pulled me off the ground so my feet were not touching.” Fateel reported that guards hit him with a baton and employed an electro-shock device while he was suspended. “They kept telling me to cooperate,” Fateel elaborated. “Later they took me back to Isa al-Majali’s office and I sat down. I couldn’t stand because of the pain. Al-Majali told me to sign a paper. I said I wanted to read it, but al-Majali said, ‘No.’ Eventually, I signed it during that meeting.”

Fateel told Human Rights Watch that doctors from Salmaniyya Hospital examined him four months later, after he had appeared in court.[133] Human Rights Watch reviewed the report submitted to the court by Ministry of Health doctors from Salmaniyya Hospital, which stated that Fateel suffered from limited shoulder mobility and pain that “confirmed [Fateel’s] claims of being hung from the ceiling, as such symptoms are rare at that age except when the patient is exposed to such an injury.” The doctors also wrote that there were dark bruises on Fateel’s legs that could have resulted from beatings.[134]

Unnamed detainee

Human Rights Watch interviewed several individuals who said that they were subjected to suspension, but who wished to remain anonymous. One reported that two days after his December 2007 arrest, he was taken to a stairwell in the CID compound (he wore a blindfold, but heard someone walking on the stairs). There, guards wrapped cloth around his wrists before cuffing his hands in front of him. A guard then attached the handcuffs to something over this individual’s head, pulling him up so that only his toes were touching the ground. For approximately 20 minutes the individual remained in that position while guards beat his shins and feet, and swung his body. Approximately two weeks later, he said, guards repeated the process.[135]

This individual showed Human Rights Watch indentations on his shins that he attributed to the described beatings. In addition, Ministry of Health doctors noted scars and bruises on this individual’s leg as well as a circular scar on his wrist that the doctors concluded could have been caused by a handcuff.[136]

Isa Abdullah Isa

Isa Isa is a married 27-year-old with one son. He works as a courier for a private company. Security forces arrested Isa at a roadblock on December 23, 2007, and took him to CID headquarters.

Isa told Human Rights Watch that at one point guards took him to a “portacabin” where they tightly wrapped strips of blanket around his wrists and bound his hands closely together using a third strip of blanket; they then attached a metal handcuff to the piece of blanket binding his hands together. Two guards then lifted Isa so that he was standing on a chair. One guard attached the open cuff to a metal bar on the stairs and another guard kicked the chair away. They suspended Isa for a period that he estimated to be 30 minutes, during which they swung his body back and forth. After releasing him, guards made Isa run in circles and move his fingers to get his blood circulating.[137] They then repeated the process.

The next day, Isa said, he was suspended again. During this episode, a guard told him, “We want you to go inside and say, ‘Yes, I gave him the weapon.’” Guards then took Isa to a room where he heard the sobbing voice of a person he knew. According to Isa, an officer said, “Isa, tell me about this person.” Isa reported that he replied, “I saw him take the weapon from the car,” falsely implicating his friend because he simply “needed to rest” and intended to retract his statement later.

Isa told Human Rights Watch that a doctor with the Ministry of Interior examined him toward the end of December 2007. According to Isa, the doctor must have observed a number of injuries to Isa’s face and body, but said nothing. At the end of February 2008, Isa reported, a doctor with an Egyptian accent working for the Public Prosecution Office examined him for approximately five minutes. Isa said that this doctor must have observed various scars and bruises, but told Isa that he saw nothing,

Isa said that doctors from Salmaniyya Hospital, including Dr. al-Arady, examined him at the court’s direction toward the end of March 2008; Isa noted that three weeks passed between the court’s mandating the exam and the actual exam.[138] In contrast to the findings of the doctors who had examined Isa earlier, the Ministry of Health doctors testified during the trial of the Jidhafs case that they had observed injuries to Isa’s person that could have been caused by the abuse that he alleged.[139] A report written by these doctors noted that Isa had circular wounds to his left wrist and concluded that those wounds “could have been caused by handcuff pressure.” The report also stated that Isa’s “shoulder pain and stiffening, and wounds around the wrist may indicate that [he had] been hung from his wrists to the roof.”[140] At the time of his interview with Human Rights Watch, Isa had visible scars on his wrist that he attributed to having been suspended in this manner.

Ali Muhammad Habib Ashoor

Ali Ashoor is a married 30-year-old who is presently unemployed. He was detained at his home on April 9, 2008, at 3 a.m. Authorities at CID headquarters in Adliya interrogated Ashoor with regard to the alleged arson attack on a farm in Karzakan that belonged to the former head of the NSA.

Eventually, Ashoor told Human Rights Watch, guards took him to a stairwell with high ceilings where they wrapped his wrists together with strips of cloth and attached one loop of a set of handcuffs to the cloth. The guards put Ashoor on a chair and attached the second loop of the handcuffs to something in the ceiling. Ashoor said that the guards kicked the chair away, leaving him suspended in the air with his feet not touching the ground. Ashoor said that a guard hung on him to increase the weight on his arms and wrists, and beat him with a stick in the area of his kidneys and on his toes. After a second suspension episode, Ashoor told Human Rights Watch, he was “ready to sign anything.” He then confessed to setting the fire and to a range of related details that were provided to him by an officer who, he said, introduced himself as Isa al-Majali.

Ashoor was taken at around midnight to the Public Prosecution Office where he met with prosecutor Ahmad Bucceri. Ashoor said that he told Bucceri that he had been beaten and Bucceri replied, “It’s good that they did that. Just shut up.” Ashoor asked for a lawyer and Bucceri said that the hour was too late for a lawyer to come. Bucceri then read from a document that contained statements similar to those Ashoor had made at the CID compound. Ashoor signed the document.[141]

Said Hadi Hamid Adnan

Said Adnan, 28, was returning from work on March 27, 2008 (it was his second day as a bus driver), when security forces called him and told him to report to a local police station. There, two CID officers pulled Adnan’s shirt over his head and handcuffed him before driving him to CID headquarters at around 9 p.m.

Adnan told Human Rights Watch that on the first day of his detention guards tied his hands together with cloth in the manner described by Isa and Ashoor, made him stand on a chair, and then suspended him. “My arms were being pulled up in a way that made me feel like I was choking,” he said. “Someone saw that I was having trouble breathing and quickly said to get me down.”

Adnan said that guards then brought him outside. According to Adnan, a supervisory officer approached him and said, “Confess or you will not be able to cope.” Adnan replied, “Tell me what to say and I will confess.” When the officer said that he wanted to know about Adnan’s role in the arson at the farm in Karzakan, Adnan replied, “I don’t have anything I can say.” Adnan told Human Rights Watch that the officer responded, “Take him back inside.”

“They suspended me again in the same way,” Adnan said. “I screamed and cried. I felt hopeless. I said, ‘Tell me what you want,’ and they took me down.” Adnan reported that the supervisory officer came to him a few minutes later and said, “You know what you have to confess about.”

Adnan told Human Rights Watch that the following day officers brought him to see Ahmad Bucceri at the Public Prosecution Office. Adnan said that he told Bucceri about some of the abuse that he had suffered. Bucceri told Adnan that someone had confessed to the arson and also implicated Adnan. Guards then brought in a man whom Adnan knew from Karzakan.  This man said that he had telephoned Adnan to make arrangements for starting the fire, that he and Adnan had brought gas to the farm, and that they had broken a lock on a gate to facilitate the entry of co-conspirators. When Adnan said he had never spoken to this man on the telephone, Bucceri countered that he had a recording of the conversation. Adnan said that he replied, “Bring the recording now and I will confess.” In response, Bucceri said, “You call yourself a man. Go back to CID for three days and if you can withstand it, I will call you a man.”

Adnan said that officers brought him back to CID and that on the fifth day of his detention, and after being suspended repeatedly, he confessed to starting the fire. According to Adnan, he was brought again to the Public Prosecution Office where he signed a confession.[142]

Nadr Ali Ahmad al-Salatne

Nadr al-Salatne, 36, works for a private interior design company. Security forces arrested him at his home on December 23, 2007 at 2:30 a.m. While officers drove al-Salatne to CID headquarters in Adliya, one said to him, “You should be a Sunni, not a kafir.”[143] At Adliya, an officer asked al-Salatne about the location of “the gun,” saying that others had already given statements indicating that al-Salatne had it. When al-Salatne said he did not know anything about a gun, the officer told him, “You Shia want to change the government, but we’re going back to the 1990s.”

According to al-Salatne, guards brought him to a room. “They made me lie face down,” al-Salatne said. “They tied my ankles and wrists together behind my back and put a bar through my arms. They lifted me off the ground—I was screaming. They said, ‘Now, you will talk,’ but I lost consciousness.” Al-Salatne said he awoke on the ground when someone threw water on him. He reported that during his first seven days of detention, all of them at CID headquarters, guards suspended him in this manner approximately five more times. On one occasion, they suspended him by putting a bar under his knees and then lifting it up.

Al-Salatne told Human Rights Watch that on the third day of his detention, officers took him to the Public Prosecution Office at around noon where he met with a prosecutor, Ahmad Bucceri. Al-Salatne asked for a lawyer, but Bucceri replied that no lawyer had come to represent al-Salatne (echoing comments attributed to Bucceri by Maytham al-Shaikh and Ali Ashoor). Bucceri told al-Salatne that he had been identified by others as one of the Jidhafs demonstrators and asked al-Salatne about the Bahraini Youth Society for Human Rights (of which al-Salatne is a member) and the Haq Movement. Al-Salatne said that he reported the abuse he had suffered to Bucceri, who cut him off, saying, “I’m not interested.” After approximately 21 days in detention, authorities released al-Salatne without charge; al-Salatne never appeared in court or reported his abuse to judicial authorities.[144]

Muhammad al-Hamadi

Muhammad al-Hamadi reported that after his December 2008 arrest guards made him sit on the floor with his knees pulled into his chest. They then wrapped pieces of his pants around his wrists (the pants had been torn off previously) and pulled his hands in front of his knees, securing them with handcuffs. A long bar was then placed under al-Hamadi’s knees. Guards put each end of the bar on a chair, suspending al-Hamadi between the chairs.

According to al-Hamadi, he remained suspended for approximately 30 minutes while officers with Egyptian and Bahraini accents repeatedly asked, “Where are the bombs?” Eventually, al-Hamadi said, he confessed falsely to keeping bombs at a laundry in his village, and the guards brought him down. After being given some water, al-Hamadi stated that in fact he did not have any bombs, at which point the guards suspended him again. When the pain caused al-Hamadi to say that he would confess to where the bombs really were, someone in the room replied, “We don’t want to know anymore.”

Al-Hamadi was later held at Dry Dock. He said that there, on one occasion, guards cuffed his hands behind his back and pulled them up over his head, attaching them to an air conditioning grate. Al-Hamadi estimates that he remained in this position for approximately 40 minutes.[145]

Muhammad Abdullah al-Singace

Muhammad al-Singace, 44, is a chemical technician with the Ministry of Works. He told Human Rights Watch that security forces arrested him at his father’s house on December 27, 2007, several nights after the incident in Jidhafs village. Al-Singace said that he was blindfolded and handcuffed upon his arrest, and taken to CID headquarters in Adliya where officers questioned him about the whereabouts of the gun that had reportedly been taken by protestors. Al-Singace said that the police claimed to have found a box of ammunition when they later searched his house; according to al-Singace, the authorities had planted it there. For the first several nights his captors forced him to stand, and handcuffed him in a way that made it painful to sit.

On the third night of his detention, al-Singace said, officers took him into a room where they bound his hands in front of his knees in a sitting position and then hoisted him off the ground with a stick placed behind his knees—he referred to it as the “parrot” position. The officers beat the soles of his feet with a stick for approximately half an hour. Guards then made him stand against a wall, despite his numb and swollen legs, and several times kicked him when he slumped to the ground.

The following night, he said, guards took him to an upstairs room, laid him on his stomach, and bound his arms and legs together behind his back, causing excruciating pain. On the fifth night, he said, he was again brought upstairs and suspended for about 15 minutes by his arms, which were pulled up behind him. Before and after these sessions, he said, officers questioned him about his activities and the whereabouts of the allegedly missing gun. On the sixth night, al-Singace reported, he was brought to the Public Prosecution Office. There, he acknowledged being at the site of the Jidhafs protest, but said that he knew nothing about the gun or any ammunition.

Al-Singace told Human Rights Watch that prior to his first court appearance he was kept mostly in solitary confinement. His lawyers raised his torture complaints at the hearings, he said, and the judge ordered that he get a forensic medical examination at Salmaniyya Hospital.[146] He received a five-year prison term that was suspended with the king’s pardon of April 11, 2009. Al-Singace said he was unable to return to his job until he signed a commitment to halt all involvement in political protests.[147]

Muhammad Makki Hamad

Muhammad Hamad told Human Rights Watch that, on the second night of his detention at CID headquarters in Adliya in December 2007, guards took him to a stairwell connecting the ground floor with the second floor. The guards stripped him naked and removed a blindfold he had been wearing. They suspended him by a chain attached to his cuffed hands that was then attached also to a metal pipe or bar extended from a stair, he said. Hamad reported that he was suspended like this for what seemed to be nearly an hour. For about 10 minutes of this period, he said, an officer asked him about the whereabouts of the gun allegedly taken from the police car in the Jidhafs incident. Hamad said there were about 10 others present, wearing black masks and street clothes. Hamad said that in addition to subjecting him to electric shocks his captors beat him about the trunk of his body with rubber hoses. “Then [the officer] came back and told them to take me down,” he said.

Later that night, Hamad said, he (like others) was forced to sign a piece of paper indicating that he had been at the Jidhafs demonstration and had taken the allegedly stolen gun. Hamad said that in a subsequent meeting with a prosecutor, he told the prosecutor of the torture, showing scars on his wrist, but the prosecutor wrote that he saw nothing wrong. When Hamad said the confession he had signed was false, the prosecutor tore it up. Hamad said that several officers then beat and kicked him in a courtyard.[148]

Ali Salman

Ali Salman, a 23-year-old law student at the University of Bahrain, is an activist with the Detainees’ Committee. Salman told Human Rights Watch that authorities arrested him at his home at about 3 a.m. on February 4, 2008. When he arrived at CID headquarters in Adliya, he said, guards blindfolded him and beat him on the back of his head with their hands.

Salman said he was forced to stand against a wall, blindfolded, for four days, except for periods when he was allowed to eat, pray, and use the bathroom. Salman’s interrogation began on the fifth night. His questioners accused him of starting a fire on the property of a member of the ruling family, which he denied (this was an incident separate from and prior to the alleged arson attack near Karzakan in March 2008). Salman told Human Rights Watch that around midnight Isa al-Majali said that he, al-Majali, had denied requests from other interrogators to subject Salman to rough treatment. “I said, ‘No, let him speak,’” Salman quoted al-Majali as saying, “‘But now I say take him, I need to hear his shouts.’”[149]

Several officers took Salman to a room where they made him stand on a chair. They removed his handcuffs, wrapped his wrists with strips of cloth, and bound his wrists together with another strip. They clasped one loop of a set of handcuffs to the strip binding Salman’s wrists together and attached the other loop to the ceiling, about six inches above his head. “Then they kicked out the chair,” Salman said. He reported that guards interrogated him while he was suspended for a period of between 15 and 30 minutes. “Whenever I said something they wanted to hear, the chair comes back. When not, the chair goes. This happened three times. Then they kicked the chair far away.” When guards took him down, Salman said, his hands were very swollen and one of his thumbs had turned black. He was told to flex his hands to regain circulation, and guards took him to see al-Majali. “I just said yes to all his questions about the attack and I signed the statement,” Salman said.

When officers took him to the Public Prosecution Office the next night, Salman said, his hands were still swollen. There, he met with Hamad al-Buainain, a prosecutor, who, Salman claims, told him, “Say the same thing [as in the written statement] or go back to the same [treatment].” Regarding the abuse he suffered, Salman said, “I told him nothing, but he could see my hands. Still, he wrote, ‘No signs of abuse.’ I just gave him the answers he wanted.”

Approximately a week later, Salman said, he had his first court appearance and pleaded not guilty to the charge of starting the fire. When a judge asked why he had confessed, Salman described the torture he had suffered. On March 29, 2008, Salman was released. He told Human Rights Watch that he did not know whether he still faced charges in connection with the case.[150]

Unnamed detainee

A second former detainee who requested anonymity told Human Rights Watch that during his initial detention in late December 2008, security officers forced him to stand on a chair and bound his wrists with wire to the ceiling. Then, the officers removed the chair and suspended this individual for about five minutes. The pain made him cry, he said, at which point his tormentors replaced the wire attached to his wrists with cloth strips and suspended him for a longer period during which he was also beaten with a hose. He said that he told both the prosecutor who interviewed him and later the court about the abuse. When he raised the matter in court, he said, “The judge would not let us go into detail, saying, ‘We have mothers here.’”[151]

Medical reports and court documents

Human Rights Watch reviewed medical reports and other documentary evidence relevant to allegations of suspension, additional to the numerous medical reports referenced above in this section. For example, Ministry of Health doctors prepared a report regarding 28 suspects in the Karzakan case in which they reported that 10 of the detainees had scars consistent with physical abuse and—notable with respect to allegations of suspension—that five individuals had scars (or bruises) on their wrists. According to the report, these injuries were caused by “handcuffing this area or being hung from the ceiling as most suspects testify.”[152]

Human Rights Watch also reviewed court minutes reflecting the testimony of Ministry of Health doctors in the Jidhafs case. According to the doctors, there were rings or scars around the wrists of certain defendants, which resulted from the “tightening” of an item around the wrists and not from the normal use of handcuffs. The doctors also found that certain defendants had limited shoulder joint mobility and irregularities of the clavicle joint. The doctors testified that it was “probable” that these defendants had been “suspended from the ceiling.”[153]   

Ministry of Health physicians wrote in a separate report that Muhammad Tarif (whom Human Rights Watch was not able to interview) had circular bruises around his wrists, indicating that he had been handcuffed in a way that caused pressure such as would result from being suspended. They also noted that Tarif suffered from pain and stiffness in his shoulders that could be traced to Tarif’s having been suspended by his wrists.[154]

Beating of Soles of Feet (Falaka)

Eleven of the 20 individuals interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported that security personnel had beaten their feet with rubber hoses and/or batons. The practice of beating the soles of the feet is sometimes referred to as “falaka,” as mentioned. The soles of the feet are not thickly muscled, and beating them causes excruciating pain.[155]

Isa Abdullah Isa

Isa Isa reported that after being suspended, as discussed above, he was taken to the office of a supervisory officer. There, guards put him face down on the ground and cuffed his hands behind his back (Isa was not blindfolded at that point). One guard put his foot on Isa’s head and another guard put his foot on Isa’s back. Someone pulled Isa’s bare feet up at a 90 degree angle from the floor. Two guards stood at the ready with rubber hoses that were perhaps a meter in length. The supervisory officer ordered the guards to beat Isa’s feet. One guard beat Isa’s right foot and the second guard beat his left foot. Isa screamed and his mouth went dry “like wood.” He cried out for water. The supervisory officer dripped water from a bottle on the floor, telling Isa to have a “doggy drink.” The officers then brought Isa outside and made him run.[156]

Yassin Ali Ahmad Mushaima

Yassin Mushaima said that at CID headquarters in Adliya on the day of his arrest, officers forced him to lie on his stomach and lift his feet into the air. The officers beat Mushaima’s feet with what could have been a baton (it was a hard object and Mushaima was blindfolded). After striking his feet approximately 10 times, the officers made Mushaima jump up and down perhaps 15 times until his blindfold fell from his face. The officers accused Mushaima of having taken it off and slapped him.[157]

Muhammad al-Hamadi

Muhammad al-Hamadi stated that after subjecting him to an electro-shock device at CID headquarters in Adliya, guards put him face down on the floor. A guard stood with one foot on al-Hamadi’s back. A second guard pulled al-Hamadi’s feet into the air and a third guard beat them with what seemed to be a rubber hose or a baton. Guards interspersed this tactic with the use of an electro-shock device for a period that al-Hamadi estimates to have been an hour.[158]

Ahmad Abd al-Hadi

Ahmad Abd al-Hadi reported that on the day of his arrest, a supervisory CID officer showed him photographs of several people at the December 2007 Jidhafs protest who were wearing masks. The officer said that he knew one of them was Abd al-Hadi and if Abd al-Hadi did not confess to being at the protest he would be taken to the “black room.” Abd al-Hadi said that he had not been at the protest and the officer ordered him taken to another room.

There, at the direction of the same supervisory officer, guards made the blindfolded Abd al-Hadi lie on his stomach. They bound his ankles together and tied them behind his back to handcuffs that were on his wrists. Then Abd al-Hadi felt his feet, which were bare, being beaten while the supervisory officer urged him to confess to having been at the protest. After perhaps five minutes, Abd al-Hadi could not bear the pain and yelled, “Stop, I’ll talk.” He said that while he had not gone to the protest, he had visited the family of Ali Jassim Makki, the protestor who had died on December 17, 2007. The supervisory officer replied, “You think I will accept only that?” and the beating on Abd al-Hadi’s feet began again. Abd al-Hadi cried out that he had seen Abd al-Hadi al-Khawaja speak at the protest, and the beating stopped again.[159] Guards untied Abd al-Hadi’s ankles from his handcuffs, leaving him lying cuffed on the floor.

Abd al-Hadi told Human Rights Watch that, later the same night, he was taken to the Public Prosecution Office where he met with a prosecutor. The prosecutor asked for Abd al-Hadi’s age and Abd al-Hadi replied that he was 17. The prosecutor showed Abd al-Hadi a document, saying, “This paper says that you were at the Jidhafs protests.” Abd al-Hadi said he “told the police that because they were beating me.” The prosecutor repeated that Abd al-Hadi had confessed and said, “If you don’t tell the truth here you will go back to CID and then you will return to me and tell the truth.”

Abd al-Hadi told Human Rights Watch that after this threat was repeated, he said to the prosecutor that he had been at the protests. The prosecutor then gave Abd al-Hadi a list of names and asked Abd al-Hadi whether he knew any of them. When Abd al-Hadi said that he only knew one, the prosecutor said, “This is your last chance or you will go back to Adliya.” After Abd al-Hadi insisted that he did not know the others, officers brought him back to CID headquarters. There, Abd al-Hadi said, he was subjected to additional beating, electro-shock devices, and suspension (as described above).[160]

Hassan Jassim Muhammad Makki

Hassan Makki reported that on the day of his arrest at the NSA headquarters in the Manama Police Fort, guards suspended him upside down by means of a bar placed underneath his knees; Makki’s hands were bound around his shins. While Makki was in that position—with the soles of his feet facing up—guards hit the bottoms of his feet for approximately 30 minutes while telling him to confess. Makki cried and yelled from the pain, he said. Makki said that while at Dry Dock guards beat his feet, typically when they employed electro-shock devices against him.[161]

Other cases

Four other individuals reported that on at least one occasion officers beat the soles of their feet, in some cases while they were held in place by other officers.[162] An additional two individuals (one of whom wished to remain anonymous) reported that the tops of their feet were beaten while they were suspended with their hands over their heads.[163]

Human Rights Watch did not find medical documentation concerning injuries that necessarily resulted from the beating of feet, although one medical report did note a scar on a detainee’s foot.[164] The lack of such documentation is not particularly surprising because this tactic, as employed by careful practitioners who wish to escape detection, typically leaves no broken bones, skin lesions, or permanent marks.[165]

Severe Beatings

Of the 20 people interviewed by Human Rights Watch, 18 reported that security forces had punched, kicked, or slapped them. Of these, all reported that guards subjected them to some degree of assault at the time of arrest or while they were being transported to the various compounds at which they were detained; a few reported that there were no notable beatings thereafter. Most individuals reported that guards beat them during interrogations at CID headquarters in Adliya or other facilities during the initial periods of their detention.

Muhsin Ahmad al-Gassab

Muhsin al-Gassab told Human Rights Watch that he was questioned at Dry Dock on the day of his arrest about allegedly receiving training in Syria. Two officers with Jordanian accents (al-Gassab was blindfolded, but said he recognized their accents as Jordanian) ordered guards to punch al-Gassab in the face repeatedly, causing him to bleed from the nose and mouth. A final punch to al-Gassab’s eye made him fall against a wall and then to the ground. On the second day of his detention, officers told al-Gassab to confess to receiving training in Syria while they punched him in the back of the head and hit him in the head with a hose. Al-Gassab reported that guards also beat him during subsequent interrogations.[166]

Muhammad al-Hamadi

Muhammad al-Hamadi reported that while he was held at CID headquarters in Adliya, guards slapped his face, his ears, and the back of his head. After al-Hamadi was taken to Dry Dock, guards hit him in the legs with a hose on a number of occasions. On two occasions, he said, an NSA officer brought al-Hamadi to a location in the Dry Dock yard where there were insects. The officer told al-Hamadi to “separate the male and female insects.” When al-Hamadi was (naturally) unable to do this, the officer punched him in the kidney area.[167]

Naji Ali Hassan Fateel

Naji Fateel told Human Rights Watch that he was forced to stand for hours outside in the CID compound on the day of his arrest. Officers passing by slapped and punched him. Also on that first day, a supervisory officer questioned Fateel in his office about the jeep-burning and alleged theft of an assault rifle during the Jidhafs protest. When Fateel denied involvement in these events, two guards standing behind him kicked him in the back of the knees and the lower back. With open hands they hit Fateel’s ears and used fists to hit the back of his head. The officers took Fateel to another room and there, when he did not agree to “cooperate,” they kicked and punched him until he fell, at which point they stepped on him.

The following night, guards brought Fateel to the same office in which he had initially been questioned for additional interrogation. When Fateel’s answers to questions about people he knew were unsatisfactory, two guards standing behind Fateel (who was also standing) kicked him in the back, the back of his legs, and his groin (through his legs). Fateel said that similar although less intense episodes continued for the first two weeks of his detention.[168] As noted above, Ministry of Health doctors reported finding dark bruises on Fateel’s legs that they concluded could have resulted from beatings.[169]

Nadr Ali Ahmad al-Salatne

Security forces kept Nadr al-Salatne in a car outside his house for 35 minutes following his arrest. In the car, al-Salatne said, officers slapped and punched the back of his head, his face and his body. Al-Salatne reported that a supervisory officer interrogated him several times in the first few days of his detention. At those meetings, if the officer did not like al-Salatne’s answers, he looked at two guards who stood behind al-Salatne; the guards then hit al-Salatne.

One night in the CID compound—after al-Salatne had visited the Public Prosecution Office—guards took him to a room with other detainees who had also been interrogated by prosecutors. Guards hit and kicked al-Salatne and the others, including with a baton. Al-Salatne reported that he fell down at certain points, which brought blows of greater intensity. Over the following few days a pattern emerged by which al-Salatne was held in a particular office during regular working hours and then taken to another room at 11 p.m. where officers questioned him regarding the allegedly stolen gun, street protests, and the Haq Movement. Al-Salatne stated that guards often punched or slapped him during these sessions.[170]

Ali Muhammad Habib Ashoor

Ali Ashoor told Human Rights Watch that at the CID compound officers made him stand by a wall for approximately five hours. While he stood there, guards who passed by hit him.

At one point during his detention, guards brought Ashoor to Isa al-Majali’s office where al-Majali said, “We have a way for humans and a way for animals. You choose.”[171] Ashoor told al-Majali that he chose the “human way.” Al-Majali asked Ashoor why he had set fire to the farm of the former NSA head. When Ashoor said that he did not know anything about the incident, guards standing behind him blindfolded him and hit the back of his head until he fell on a table. The guards then hit Ashoor with what he believes was a rubber hose on the back of his legs.[172]

Isa Abdullah Isa

On the day of his arrest, Isa Isa was put in the corner of a room at the CID compound where guards formed a semi-circle around him, punching and kicking him. An officer of superior rank came into the room and told the guards to stop. He said to Isa, “Now, no one can help you. I will ask you one question and if you don’t answer it this is your last day on earth. Where is the weapon?” Isa responded, “What weapon?” The officer then ordered the guards to continue hitting Isa. Isa said that after what he estimated to be 10 minutes, he felt as if he was going to die and confessed falsely to hiding a weapon in a cemetery in the village of Sanabis.

According to Isa, after a search for the weapon proved fruitless, someone said to him, “Do not tell me anything. We don’t want the gun. We are just going to beat you.” There were several guards standing by Isa, and they kicked and punched him as he begged for mercy. Later that day, a guard poured water in Isa’s ear. Another guard hit the ear five or six times with an open hand.[173] Ministry of Health doctors found injuries to Isa’s hand that they concluded were “possibly caused by beating” as well as a wound to his ankle.[174]

Muhammad Makki Hamad

Muhammad Hamad told Human Rights Watch that officers beat him with fists and sticks when arresting him, hitting him in the groin and face while demanding that he “surrender the weapon.” At CID headquarters, he said, guards took him to the office of a supervisory officer. The officer questioned him for perhaps 10 minutes; each time Hamad denied having or knowing the whereabouts of “the gun,” someone slapped him on the head from behind. Then, Hamad said, the officer and others took him out to a paved yard where they forced him to kneel. The officer said to him, “Just confess to where the weapon is. Otherwise these guys will hurt you.” Someone kicked Hamad, knocking him over. Someone else ran at him and kicked him in the jaw, causing his mouth to bleed. “They took me to the clinic there in the headquarters and stopped the bleeding,” Hamad said, “and then took me outside again. It was very cold and I only was dressed in a T-shirt. I had to stand in front of a wall blindfolded from 4 to 6 a.m.”[175]

Medical reports and court documents

Human Rights Watch reviewed a number of documents beyond those referenced in the Fateel and Isa cases, which recorded injuries consistent with allegations of general physical abuse. For example, Ministry of Health doctors found that Muhammad Tarif (whom we were not able to interview) had jaw injuries that could have been caused by “direct beating on the jaw.”[176] In court proceedings, these doctors reiterated that this was likely the cause of Tarif’s injury.[177]

In another instance, the chief medical examiner of the Public Prosecution Office found that Abd al-Reda al-Saffar (whom we were not able to interview) had shoulder bruises and injuries to the bottom of his leg that had been caused by contact between an object and those parts of al-Saffar’s body. The chief medical examiner also noted that al-Saffar had injuries to his body that resulted from contact with a floor, a wall, and handcuffs.[178] Similarly, a medical examiner at the Public Prosecution Office concluded that Hassan Ali Fateil (whom we were not able to interview) had suffered injuries to his head, arms, and legs that were caused by contact with some manner of rough object.[179]

Perhaps most significant among the documents that Human Rights Watch reviewed with respect to general beatings was the report by Ministry of Health doctors regarding those detained in the Karzakan case. According to this report, 12 of the 28 examined defendants had bruises or scrapes. Ten of these individuals also had scars that could not be explained by pre-detention incidents (additional individuals had scars from incidents prior to detention). While the doctors noted that too much time had passed from the time of injury to offer definitive conclusions, they opined that the scars and bruises could have been caused by beatings. These forensic doctors noted that one individual also had irregularities in his ribs that could have “resulted from beatings.”[180]

Threats to Rape and Kill

Human Rights Watch interviewed a number of individuals who reported that security forces threatened to kill or rape them or their families. These threats were made during the interrogation process.

Threats to Rape

Naji Ali Hassan Fateel reported that while being suspended with his hands above his head officers told him that he had to cooperate. Otherwise, one of the officers told Fateel, security forces would arrest Fateel’s wife and put her with a Pakistani guard who would rape her. The officer said that the Pakistani’s regular “job” was to rape boys.[181]

On the day of his arrest, Yassin Ali Ahmad Mushaima was being questioned regarding pipe bombs. When Mushaima said he knew nothing about bombs, guards removed his clothing and threatened to rape him. They also said that they would rape his sister and mother.[182]

At CID headquarters in Adliya, an officer taunted Ahmad Jaffer Muhammad by saying that he was going to have sex with Muhammad. Muhammad, who was blindfolded at the time, told Human Rights Watch that the threat terrified him.[183]

Isa Abdullah Isa told Human Rights Watch that an officer said to him, “If you don’t confess, I will bring your wife and let all the guards have her, I swear to God.” Isa heard the officer tell someone to “start the car” before saying to Isa that he was going to get Isa’s wife. Isa said he then falsely confessed to giving a gun to another individual.[184]

Threats to Kill

Yassin Ali Ahmad Mushaima reported that on the second day of his detention a guard put a heavy object in his hand, saying, “Feel this.” Mushaima, who was blindfolded, realized that it was a gun. The guard took the gun back from Mushaima, covered Mushaima’s mouth with his hand and put the gun to Mushaima’s head. Mushaima then heard the voice of a friend who was being brought into the room. The friend said that he and Mushaima had thrown Molotov cocktails together, seeming not to know that Mushaima was in the room. After the friend was taken away, the guard removed the gun from Mushaima’s head.[185]

Abdullah Muhsin Abdullah Muhsin is a 32-year-old employee of a real estate company. He reported that on the day of his arrest, someone put a circular metal object to his head that he took to be the barrel of a gun. An officer then threatened to bring Muhsin’s mother and brother to Adliya unless Muhsin revealed the location of the gun that protestors had allegedly taken in the Jidhafs incident.[186]

Forced Standing

Of the 20 individuals interviewed by Human Rights Watch, 13 reported that they were made to stand for extended periods of time, typically outside in the courtyard of the CID compound during the night.  Some reported that guards forced them to stand for many nights in a row.   Others reported that they were made to stand outside for hours when they first arrived at the CID.  

Some individuals described being forced to stand as a matter of course during the day when they were held in small offices at the CID compound.   Others reported that this practice was employed at Dry Dock as well.   Those who complained of this abuse reported that, at times, officers forced them to stand for long periods in response to their refusals to confess.[187]  

Abuse of a Sexual Nature

Two of the individuals we interviewed described episodes of serious sexual abuse or degradation.

Isa Abdullah Isa reported that while he was blindfolded in a room at Adliya, guards tied a plastic flexible handcuff around his penis and forced him to drink a bottle of water. Every 15 to 30 minutes, the guards forced him to drink more water and Isa began to feel a strong urge to urinate. He cried out, asking to use the toilet, but the guards refused. Isa said he considered urinating where he stood, but the flexicuff prevented him from doing so. Eventually, a guard removed the flexicuff, but Isa still was not permitted to use the bathroom. He urinated on himself.[188]

As discussed above, Maytham Badr Jassim al-Shaikh reported that on the first day of his detention he was suspended by his wrists twice. During the second session, officers told al-Shaikh that they knew he had taken “the gun” and demanded to know where it was. When al-Shaikh, who was blindfolded, said that he knew nothing about a gun, the officers removed his clothes and pulled his legs apart. Then, al-Shaikh said, they inserted what he believes was a baton into his anus for a few seconds. One of the officers said, “If you want to pretend to be a real man, we’ll show you how to be a real man.”[189]