Left to right: Khaled Bin Hamad Alkhalifa and Nasser Bin Hamad Alkhalifa (two sons of the king)
Left to right: Khalifa Bin Ahmed Alkhalifa (General Director of Southern
Province Police), Khalifa Bin Abdulla Alkhalifa (Head of the National
Security Apparatus), Noura Bint Ebrahim AlKhalifa (Drug Control Unit)
Swedish Citizen tortured by Nasser Alkhalifa, son of King Hamad
16 August 2011
The BCHR expresses grave concern and is alarmed to learn that members
of the Alkhalifa family have personally been involved in beating and
torturing pro-democracy protesters. After the crackdown on the
pro-democracy movement in Bahrain the Center has been receiving reports
from victims that they were subjected to severe beatings and torture by
people they identified as members of the Bahraini royal family. Five
members of Alkhalifa have been specifically mentioned by victims, they
are:
Noura Bint Ebrahim Alkhalifa,
Khalifa Bin Ahmed Alkhalifa,
Khalifa Bin Abdulla Alkhalifa and sons of the King,
Khaled Bin Hamad Alkhalifa and
Nasser Bin Hamad Alkhalifa. One of the victims subjected to torture by Nasser Bin Hamad Alkhalifa is Swedish citizen,
Mohammed Habeeb Al-Muqdad, currently imprisoned at Al-Gurain military prison.
Detention Centers
The first victim to speak out was poet
Ms Ayat Al-Qurmuzi, who
was imprisoned for reading a couple of anti-government poems during the
pearl roundabout peaceful protest. Ayat was arrested by masked
civilians and blindfolded, after her release she spoke of being tortured
by men and women. One of the women she claims tortured her was
Noura Bint Ebrahim Alkhalifa.
Ayat gave a detailed account of what she was subjected to on the hands
of Noura. Among other things Ayat said Noura cursed her, spat on her,
and slapped her many times across the face. Noura threatened Ayat that
her tongue would be cut off, when Ayat refused to open her mouth, Noura
hit her with a broom on her mouth. Noura also spat into Ayats mouth and
used electric shocks on Ayats face. As Noura Alkhaifa tortured Ayat she
repeated slurs against shias and said “the people you criticize are your
masters, and they will remain in power forever, whether you like it or
not”.
Noura Bint Ebrahim AlKhalifa
Another victim is doctor
Fatima Hajji. On the 17th of April
Noura Alkhalifa and 25 masked men attacked Dr. Fatimas flat in the
village of Bani Jamra and arrested her. During interrogations Noora
demanded that Fatima confess, when Fatima said she had done nothing but
treat patients Noura replied “If you do not confess I will have to
torture you the way I tortured Doctor Ali Al-Ekri.” She added that
detainees Roula Al-Saffar and Ghassan Dhaif had already confessed.
Noura started slapping and cursing Fatima continuously for about 25
minutes. Then she used a hose to beat her on her feet. When Noura
Alkhalifa looked through Dr. Fatimas blackberry and saw two emails, one
to Human Rights Watch about her suspension and the other about Martyr
Ahmed Shams she shouted at Dr. Fatima “How dare you ruin the image of
our government”, then electrocuted her on her face.
Fatima was told to confess that she had pretended to cry in front of
foreign media, and that she had stolen 100 bags of blood from the blood
bank and given it out to protesters to spill on themselves and pretend
to be injured. She was forced to sign a confession after being
threatened with rape. Fatima was also sexually harassed by men under the
supervision of Noura. She was forced to stand on one leg, make animal
noises, sing and dance.
Fatima Al-Bagali who is a student at the teaching college in
University of Bahrain was arrested on the 9th of May 2011. She was
blindfolded and taken to West Riffa detention center. Where
Khalifa Bin Ahmed Alkhalifa
The center director interrogated her about a speech she had given on
Pearl Square, and about antigovernment comments she had made on
facebook. Khalifa beat Fatima, slapping and kicking her as he said “You
shia are ungrateful to your masters the Al-Khalifa”. In addition, some
of the police officers threatened to rape Fatima if she dared to speak
about what she had been subjected to.
Khalifa Bin Ahmed Alkhalifa joining thugs armed with sticks , last March
Another victim also testified that he was interrogated by Khalifa Bin
Ahmed AlKhalifa, who had a picture of the victim in a peaceful protest
by the Ministry of Information. The victim says he was asked repeatedly
about his participation in that protest, then was blindfolded, beaten
and electrocuted on his genitals.
In
another case, three of the activists arrested and sentenced
for attempting to overthrow the regime also reported that they had been
beaten by members of the royal family. The first,
Abdulla Isa Al-Mahroos,
said he was beaten by Nasser Bin hamad Alkhalifa, and that Nassar
forced him to open his mouth then spat in his mouth. Al-Mahroos was also
beaten by Head of the Security Apparatus
Khalifa Bin Abdulla Alkhalifa.
Who kicked him repeatedly in the stomach and ordered the prison guards
to walk over his stomach which caused internal bleeding in the abdomen.
Afterwhich Al-Mahroos was transferred to the military hospital where he
had two surgeries.
The second is Swedish citizen
Mohammed Habib Al-Muqdad, who
was detained in an underground prison in the National Security Apparatus
in the Fort. Al-Muqdad recalls that while being tortured suddenly
everybody was silent. He heard his torturers say “your majesty” someone
asked him “do you know who I am?” When Al-Muqdad said no, his blindfold
was removed and the man infront of him said “I’m Prince Nasser Bin Hamad
Al-Khalifa. When you protested outside our castle in Safriya, only a
wall separated us”. Then Nasser asked Al-Muqdad what chants he had said
that day at the protest. When Almuqdad said “Down Down Hamad” Nasser
slapped Al-Muqdad who fell to the ground, then with the help of
torturers beat him severely.
There is a wealth of evidence confirming that, at the very least, the
government and the ruling establishment had knowledge and condoned the
actions of the security forces. The most notable example of this is the
actions and
speeches of Nasser Al Khalifa
, the son of the reigning monarch. In a public forum, on state
television, Nasser Al Khalifa threatened retribution to all those
involved in the protests regardless of their position in society and
their profession. In a telling final statement, Nasser Al Khalifa noted
that, as an island state, those involved in the protests in Bahrain had
“nowhere to escape too”. If any doubt could be attributed to his
unequivocal assertions, such doubt would be obliterated by the actions
of the government and the personal actions of Nasser Al Khalifa. Within a
few hours of this statement, the
systematic targeting of athletes involved in the protests commenced. To compound this, Nasser himself became personally involved in the torture.
Mohammed Hassan Jawad (64 yrs old) was blindfolded and
handcuffed when Nasser Bin Hamad asked him “do you know who I am, its
Nasser with you” Then the son of the king started interrogating Mr.
Jawad about the Safriya protest and accusing him of organizing the
protest. To force him to confess, Nasser beat Mr. Jawad with a hose on
his head until he fell to the ground. Then Nasser started kicking him
mostly on his back, while swearing at shia clerics and imams.
Al-Safriya checkpoint
Different victims beaten at tha Al-Safriya checkpoint (close to the
palace of the king) gave their testimonies but asked we do not share
their names out of fear for their safety. The first is a
bus driver
who was driving high school students when he was stopped under gun
point by the Bahraini army at the checkpoint. He was shocked when
Nasser Bin Hamad,
son of the King, came wearing a military uniform and started beating
him. The victim says Nasser never used his hands but kicked him, in
sensitive areas, in his head and chest, and mostly on his face until he
started bleeding. When soldiers told Nasser that they would beat him,
Nasser replied “No leave him to me”. After severe beating the victim was
arrested for two weeks until the marks on his body faded.
The
second victim was stopped at the same checkpoint, where
Khaled Bin Hamad,
son of King Hamad, ordered him to get out of his car and lie down on
the ground. Khaled ordered that the victims car and phone get searched.
When an anti government message was found on his phone, Khaled started
kicking the victim. The beating continued for two hours and a half, by
Khaled and other soldiers with him, until the victims nose and mouth
bled. The victim was then forced to kiss Khaleds shoes. While beating
the victim Khaled asked him how many times he had been to Pearl Square
and swore at shia, and their leaders. This victim was detained for 2
months with no charges or trial.
In the
third case at Al-Safriya checkpoint, an older man with
two sons were stopped. The older man was told to put his head down in
respect to the “Sheikh” (member of royal family), his sons were dragged
out of the car and thrown on the ground infront of Khaled Bin Hamad
Alkhalifa. Khaled was wearing a military uniform, and started beating
the two boys using his gun. Khaled asked the boys about a sticker on
their car which read “Sunni and Shia are brothers” he made them read it
out loud then said “We are not brothers, all shia are homosexuals.” The
boys said they were beaten severely by Khaled and Saudi soldiers. When a
Saudi soldier called the victims “dogs”, Khaled said “These are not
dogs, they’re pigs. At least our dogs are loyal”.
These are a few of the reports brought to the BCHR about torture and
mistreatment by members of the royal family. Many other victims came
forward but were afraid they would be targeted if they spoke out and
asked us not to include their accounts in our report. Putting members of
the royal family in the positions of torturers and interrogators will
only lead to more mistrust and anger towards the monarchy. The BCHR also
observes that most of the victims tortured or beaten by members of the
royal family, were subjected to insults directed towards one sect of the
population.
The BCHR demands an investigation into the crimes of the five
members of the the royal family mentioned in this report and that all
those responsible for mistreating and torturing prisoners be brought to
justice.
Sheikh Nasser said he hoped a 'wall would fall' on the regime's enemies (Hamad I Mohammed)
