National Institution for Human Rights – Kingdom of Bahrain
and he requires surgical intervention. He stressed that one of the officers committed
violence and ill-treatment during the inspection, while a police officer sprayed pepper
heavily from all window openings. He also reported that during the five months he
spent in detention, he was denied the opportunity to meet his lawyer, adding that
he knew about the accusation against him during the court hearing. He also denied
that the detainees tried to detain police members. The second detainee indicated that
the chaos that occurred was because the police and security forces commit violence
and ill-treatment during the inspection. He reported that he was placed in solitary
confinement and was beaten for 15 minutes as a result of not complying with the
orders of standing up during the inspection. The detainees stated that after emptying
the cells, they are exposed to sun for four hours, from 6:00 to 10:00 AM, as a result
of which some detainees collapsed by reason of the heat and fatigue. They were also
not allowed to drink water.
36. Following this visit, NIHR prepared a detailed report that included a number of
recommendations and was submitted to the Ministry of the Interior. Among the
most prominent recommendations are: investigating into the serious allegations
of humiliating and degrading ill-treatment by police agents and officers who were
referred to in the report; and the need to establish a culture of human rights for the
detainees and promote this culture among the police officers in the detention and
apprehension centers in accordance with the relevant humane international standards.
The role of police officers in the detention centers should be based on effective
supervision and maintaining the integrity and rights of the detainees. The detainees
are held under legal custody since they are not yet convicted by court decision. In
addition, penalties should be imposed on the offender alone without extension to
the other detainees as a collective punishment pursuant to the principle of personal
punishment stipulated in Article No. (20) of paragraph (b), of the Constitution. A
security system should be established to prevent the entry of contraband materials to
the detainees, and the detainees should be allowed to meet their lawyers upon their
request. All facilities in this regard should be given and documented. Moreover, the
detainees should be given enough time to exercise and enjoy sunshine for sufficient
time. A social environment within the detention centers should be also created by
providing the opportunity for the inwards to meet each other according to legal
controls and without prejudice to the system in place within the centers. Family visit
procedures and the accompanying security measures which may be described as
humiliating should be reconsidered, and the glass barriers between the detainee and
his family should be removed. Greater attention should be paid to meal quality and
system in terms of sufficiency and diversity. Further attention should be dedicated
to health care system and receiving and following up the treatment, and adequate
sanitary kits of different types should be provided. The capacity of the rooms
allocated to the detainees should be considered in order to ensure a sufficient degree
of comfort. There is need to consider forming a temporary committee composed of
the Ministry of Interior, the judiciary, NIHR, and the Ombudsman in order to study
and visualize procedures for the treatment of detainees in the Drydock pre-trial
centre. However, NIHR have not received a response from the Ministry of Interior
on the actions taken concerning these recommendations.
37. On another occasion, NIHR received a complaint from the family of a convicted
person to intervene to consider the provision of appropriate treatment. They have
expressed their deep concern for his health. NIHR has contacted the Ministry of
Interior and requested meeting the convict to identify his health condition. The
Ministry has granted this request. However, when we visited the convict at the reform
and rehabilitation department, he apologized for not meeting NIHR delegation
without giving clear reasons. He requested coordinating with his family to follow up
his health condition.
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