British government deporting teenager to torture in Bahrain


Demonstration against deportation of Bahraini teenager Isa Haider Alaali, Reuters photo

From daily The Independent in Britain:

Isa Haider Alaali case: Bahraini teen fears torture after losing asylum claim

Alex Delmar-Morgan

Sunday 18 May 2014

A Bahraini teenager fears he will be tortured when he is deported to the repressive Gulf state this week after his asylum application was rejected by the British Government.

Isa Haider Alaali’s deportation comes as the Royal Family have been playing host at the Royal Windsor Horse Show to the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and his son Prince Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who faces a High Court judicial review over whether he has immunity from prosecution for alleged torture.

Activists staged protests over the weekend at an equestrian event as Prince Andrew – long criticised for his cozy relationship with the Gulf state – entertained Bahraini royals at Windsor on Friday.

Home Office documents obtained by The Independent show the 19-year-old is due to be flown back to Bahrain on Thursday morning. Mr Alaali, who was sentenced to five years in prison in absentia by a Bahraini court in March on charges of illegal gathering and rioting, is unable to appeal the decision.

“I’m so disappointed and feeling so bad emotionally,” Mr Alaali said via a translator at the Harmondsworth detention centre, where he has spent the past three months.

He was one of the 100 or so detainees at the facility near Heathrow airport who went on hunger strike earlier in the month protesting over what they saw as poor treatment. He added: “The decision by the UK to deport me to Bahrain could put me at risk of my life as I will get tortured.”

Mr Alaali says he was beaten by police in Bahrain when he was arrested last year. He sought asylum in the UK in mid-February, fleeing a country that rights groups say continues to use torture to crush dissent.

John Horne of the activist group Bahrain Watch said: “It is an absolute betrayal of the Government’s claims to uphold human rights when it seeks to deport a young activist who fled persecution and now faces imminent imprisonment and possible torture.”

The Bahraini government launched a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in early 2011. Nearly 100 protesters demanding political reform from the Sunni government have died over the last three years, according to the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. Calls to the Bahrain government went answered on Sunday.

Probably a mistake at the Independent: probably their calls to the Bahraini regime ‘went UNanswered’.

The UN’s top human rights body should urgently condemn ongoing serious human rights violations in Bahrain and call on officials to respect and uphold the fundamental rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly, according to an open letter sent to States by a coalition of leading human rights organisations. See more here.

14 thoughts on “British government deporting teenager to torture in Bahrain

  1. For some time in the history of Britain, has and is a repressive regime, this is as a cause been through two aspects, the country has been suppressed through over seas conquest, and this has created a culture of internal repression and overseas oppression, secondly, the ability of having the natural resources of material used in the industrial revolution, creating methods of war fare, that a advanced technological state only can create, the worst aspects of human nature is to be found here, unless this realization is understood, by most people we are all to pay for a criminal organization to stay in power.
    No amount of tattoo’s body piecing, T.shirt slogans and posters will change this situation, it requires a conscious state of mind to transfer from violence to a civilization that is within the bounds of reason.

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  5. Bahraini’s deportation delayed

    Saturday, May 24, 2014

    LONDON: A last-minute judicial intervention has temporarily prevented the deportation of a Bahraini asylum-seeker from the UK, says a Financial Times newspaper report.

    Isa Haider Al A’ali, who has been sentenced in absentia to five years in a Bahrain prison for rioting, had been scheduled to fly to Manama on Thursday morning after Britain rejected his asylum claim.

    Activists and lawyers said a judge on Wednesday rejected calls for a review, but an out-of-hours judge later accepted a second application and granted a temporary stay.

    Mr Al A’ali has a week to provide new evidence why he should not be deported to Bahrain.

    About 185 Bahrainis have applied for UK asylum since the unrest began. Home Office data show that 102 applications have since been granted and 18 are pending.

    http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=377712

    More about this is at

    https://bahrainwatch.org/blog/2014/05/23/uk-court-delays-deportation-of-19-year-old-bahraini-torture-survivor/

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