Question 41224 — foreign policy

Summary

Mr. Gérard Leseul draws the attention of the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs to respect for human rights in Bahrain and more specifically to the detention of political opponents. Since 2011 and the events of the Arab Spring which were repressed by force in this archipelago, the regime has been increasingly repressive with recurring human rights violations which must be taken into account. In 2020, Bahrain still denied access to its territory to human rights observers, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and UN human rights bodies. The country was still a member of the Saudi-led coalition in the armed conflict in Yemen. People who express their opinions about human rights violations and their loved ones regularly face reprisals. THE For example, authorities have taken more than 20 legal actions against Kameel Juma Hasan, a 17-year-old teenager, son of former prisoner Najah Ahmed Yusuf. He and his mother had refused to become informants for the state security services. Around ten Shiite civic, religious and political figures are still in detention. Several of them had been incarcerated since 2011 for having participated in large-scale opposition demonstrations that year. Ali Salman, leader of Bahrain's largest legal political movement between 2006 and 2011, is still serving the life sentence he was sentenced to in 2018 on trumped-up charges of "spying" for Qatar according to an investigation by Amnesty International. Sentenced to life imprisonment, Dr. AlSingace has spent the last ten years in prison. He was one of 13 opposition activists, arrested between March 17 and April 9, 2011, who were subsequently convicted by a military court. According to the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, he was subjected to brutal torture. On July 8, 2021, he began a hunger strike to protest against the degrading treatment of which he had been a victim, against the restriction of only being allowed to call five numbers during the current pandemic and finally to demand the return of his book. Dr. AlSingace suffers from several chronic illnesses, including post-polio syndrome and a musculoskeletal condition. Since the start of his incarceration he has been the victim of constant medical negligence on the part of the prison authorities. The international community has continued to demand his immediate and unconditional release, including the United Nations special rapporteurs on human rights defenders, leading international human rights organizations and American, British and European legislators. He would like to know what France's position is on these various human rights violations and whether diplomatic actions are currently underway to encourage the country to respect fundamental human rights (the rights of women and migrants, right to a fair trial, freedom of the press, etc.).

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