Bahrain Opinion: The Significance of the Detention and Treatment of Nabeel Rajab

Nabeel Rajab in July --- his last interview and his arrest by hooded security forces

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Since human rights activist Nabeel Rajab was imprisoned and then given a three-year sentence for Twitter messages and participation in protests, there have been reports of his mistreatment by Bahraini authorities. The President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, one of the leading voices claiming Government oppression of political prisoners, is now on the other side of the situation.

Rajab's wife Sumaya told an activist from BCHR last week about conditions after she had finally been allowed to see her husband in Jaw Prison. The BCHR claimed: 

Sumaya confirmed that Nabeel is subjected to degrading conditions and ill-treatment through repeated personal inspections, whereby they take off all his clothes during the inspection and leave him with only a small piece of fabric to cover his private areas. He said he was subjected to deliberately humiliating inspections.

With regards to being put in solitary confinement in August, Nabeel told Sumaya that he was taken to solitary on the day he was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment, which seems to indicate a desire for revenge and punishment, and added that the atmosphere of the cell suggested to him that he would be exposed to “repeated meals of severe torture.”

She continued by saying that in his solitary cell, Nabeel was stripped of all his clothes, forced to wear a small piece of fabric ("a wrapper") only, then forced to stand and sit 40 times as part of the physical torture he suffered despite the fact that he suffers from a herniated disc in his back, and has requested a special medical belt to help cope with the recurrence of pain. He was also hit on the back by security forces several times previously.

Sumaya said that Nabeel does not know how many days he spent in that cell, because he could not tell day from night. In addition to the cell being generally dirty, Nabeel reported that there was also a dead cat in the cell.

Other detainees claim to have faced far worse. The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, in its report of November 2011, documented cases to find that a "lack of accountability of officials within the security system has led to a culture of impunity, whereby security officials have few incentives to avoid mistreatment of prisoners or to take action to prevent mistreatment by other officials".

The Government claims that it has carried out significant reforms in implementation of the BICI report and that no detainees are abused. Last week, the Ministry of Human Rights said, after Rajab finally agreed to see its representatives, that the activist had "expressed satisfaction at the 'good treatment' [he had] enjoyed".

Critics have contended that, when high-profile activists are arrested, the government looks to the severity of international reactions against the detention. If the outcry is loud enough, the government may release the prisoner; if the response is not heard, then the detainee remains behind bars.

Rajab's case appears to raise the stakes. On previous occasions since the start of the uprising in February 2011, including in the spring, he has been held but soon released. This time, the detention --- despite international criticism --- appears to be long-term and, if his wife is correct, accompanied by solitary confinement and ill treatment.

Is this a step beyond for the regime's approach to Rajab and to other political prisoners, inflicting humiliation and exerting psychological torture while claiming reform to the world? And if so, is there any possible remedy for the situation?