BAHRAIN / Detained March 17, 2011
UPDATE: On January 15, 2019, Al-Singace and other members of the Bahrain 13 held in Jau Prison were informed that all future family visits would be conducted through a glass wall – a procedure normally reserved for violent criminals because of its large psychological impact on the prisoner.
Abduljalil al-Singace, an engineer and journalist who managed the blog “Al-Faseela,” has long been a human rights activist and a consistent target of government crackdown. As early as 2005 he was demoted from a prominent engineering position at the University of Bahrain after the university had received pressure from the government because of his human rights activism. During a visit by President George Bush to the Bahrain in 2008, he presented him with a petition of 80,000 signatures stating that Bahrain is not a democracy. He has fought for the right of the people to draft a democratic constitution in their interest.
First arrested in 2010 in response to a speech he gave at a conference at the British House of Lords criticizing Bahrain’s lack of freedoms and protection of human rights, al-Singrace was detained upon his return at the airport for the “abuse of the freedom of opinion”. He was released in February 2011 just before pro-democracy demonstrations began and rearrested on March 17, 2011, Following his arrest, a military court quickly sentenced him to life in prison for “plotting to overthrow the government.”
On March 12, 2017, prison authorities denied Al-Singace medical treatment for severe dehydration. He had refused to be chained upon leaving his cell – a mandatory rule for all prisoners at Jaw Prison. Due to excessive torture and abuse he has experienced behind bars, Al-Singace now requires a medical specialist to treat his extreme health problems.