Bahraini Authorities Release Police Brutality Victims

On June 2, two days after Human Rights Watch sent a public letter to the king of Bahrain, authorities released two men who had been severely beaten by the police. Anti-riot police apprehended the men, Ali al- Khabaz, 22, and Hassan Yusuf Hamid, 46, on May 21 as the two were gathering with others to protest a police action the previous evening. For more than a week, authorities refused to disclose al-Khabaz’s whereabouts to his family, and the police beatings resulted in multiple fractures to al-Khabaz’s face and fractured Hamid’s jaw. On May 25, Human Rights Watch wrote a private letter to Bahrain’s Minister of Interior, requesting information on the detention and beating of al-Khabaz. After receiving no response, we wrote to the king on May 31 to protest the beatings, demanding the release of the men and pressing for investigations to determine who was responsible and hold them accountable. The attention we drew to the case including, the posting on our website of pictures of al-Khabaz before and after his beating, kept the pressure on Bahraini authorities to release the men.