END DEGRADING TREATMENT OF POLITICAL PRISONERS IN BAHRAIN

That this House deplores the degrading treatment of political prisoners in Bahrain; is appalled by the inhuman conditions of detention facilities as described by the UN Human Rights Committee in July 2018, particularly in Jau prison, including unsanitary conditions, severe overcrowding, inadequate access to drinking water and unhygienic toilet facilities; is concerned about the arbitrary and extrajudicial arrest of 13 Bahraini opposition leaders who were subjected to torture and unlawfully convicted by a military court in 2011; condemns the deliberate targeting of Hassan Mushaima, who is being denied unconditional access to medical care, family visits and books; notes with dismay that Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace and Abdulwahab Husain are victims of similar punitive measures; is concerned that the violations of Mr Mushaima's rights have caused his son to launch a hunger strike outside the Bahraini Embassy in London, and that the political prisoner Ali Hajji is also on a hunger strike to protest degrading treatment in Jau prison; expresses further concern that the UK has provided over £5 million in technical assistance programmes to Bahrain to train human rights oversight bodies, which appear to have systematically failed to investigate thoroughly human rights abuses and whitewashed torture in Bahraini prisons; urges the Government to suspend the programme until Bahrain abides by its international human rights obligations, including the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners; and calls for the immediate release of all political prisoners, including the Bahrain 13.