BCHR | Hussein Al Asfoor Targeted For His Work At Al-Wasat Newspaper;
 

12-05-13 12:12 PM

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May 12th, 2013
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights expresses its concerns over the arrest of an employee at Al-Wasat newspaper, Mr. Hussein Al Asfoor, on Tuesday the 23rd of April 2013. Mr. Asfoor was reportedly subjected to severe beatings and psychological and physical torture at the Hamad town police station (at the 17th roundabout), where he was charged with several charges including helping some of the protesters, before he was referred to the Public Prosecution, which investigated him and ordered his release later.

According to details obtained by the monitoring and follow-up committee at the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Mr. Hussein Al Asfoor – an employee (linguist and copy editor) at the newspaper Al Wasat – went to the post office in the village of Budaiya on the 23rd of April 2013 to complete the standard paperwork in relation to a traffic accident. He was taken by surprise when security forces in civilian clothing forced him to accompany them to an unknown location, which he later discovered to be the wooden cabins attached to the police station on the 17th roundabout in Hamad Town.

It was in these wooden cabins that Al Asfoor was subjected to cruel and degrading treatment (See: http://www.alwasatnews.com/3885/news/read/767497/1.html ). He was severely beaten, verbally abused, and psychological and physical tortured where he was put in a room that was very cold for several hours and denied from entering the toilet for long hours as well as receiving beatings and insults. Has also been threatened with death if he did not confess to the charges against him of assisting protesters in achieving their demands of freedom and democracy.

This is not the first time that a citizen of Bahrain is kidnapped and beaten. The Security Forces have exhibited a patterned behaviour in regards to kidnappings, particularly in areas where protests are held with great frequency against the policies of the regime and its well-documented human rights violations. Just after the incident involving Al Asfoor, the BCHR documented another similar case on Thursday, 25 April 2013 where a young man, whose name must be withheld for security purposes, in his twenties was kidnapped and beaten in Jidhafs (https://twitter.com/SAIDYOUSIF/statu...18697910591488 ). The BCHR has also documented in this case that he was kidnapped during a house raid in an area of Jidhafs where a peaceful march was supressed not long before his arrest. During this march, the young man was briefly detained by a security forces patrol where he was punched and beaten with police batons. Has was also cursed, called by sectarian names, and then transferred to open area opposite to “Bahrain Mall” where he was assaulted by eight members belonging to the Bahraini police force who called him "Son of Muta’a" (a degrading call, in reference to children of the temporary marriage); he was later released.

The BCHR believes that what has been suffered by Hussein Al Asfoor follows the pattern of an established method used by the security forces in Bahrain. This practice begins when a protester, demonstrator, or someone sympathetic to the democratic movement is kidnapped, tortured and brutally beaten for hours before being released. This method of harassment is intended by the security forces to broadcast a message of terror and fear among the advocates for freedom and democracy. The BCHR believes that targeting Hussein Al Asfoor came as a result of his employment at the Al-Wasat newspaper, which has been exposed to many forms of targeting and sabotage by the security forces, most notably forcing its chief editor, Dr. Mansour al-Jamri, to submit his resignation during the emergency period of de facto martial law in the year 2011. The newspaper plays a prominent role in delivering the news about Bahrain's political events.

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights demands the following:

- Drop all charges against Mr. Hussein's Al Asfoor.
- Open an impartial investigation into the abuses suffered by Al Asfoor and to hold those involved in the beating and torture.
- Immediately stop the security forces’ methods of torture and hold the relavent officers accountable for their actions.


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