British MPs Call For Sanctions Against Bahrain Officials Accused Of Torture

Several dozen members of the UK parliament have called on their government to impose ‘Magnitsky’ style sanctions on Bahrain officials accused of torture and mistreatment of political prisoners, with interior minister Rashid al-Khalifa coming in for particular criticism.

The concerns were raised in a debate in the House of Commons on January 13, where there was cross-party criticism of the Bahrain government and its human rights record.

The Scottish National Party (SNP)’s Brendan O’Hara highlighted the case of Abduljalil al-Singace who was arrested in 2010, released but then rearrested the following year after pro-democracy protests. Since then, he has been “subjected to physical and mental torture, as well as sexual abuse, at the hands of the Bahraini authorities,” said O’Hara, noting that Reporters Without Borders declared his only crime was “freely expressing opinions contrary to those of the government”.

Singace is one of an estimated 1,400 political prisoners being held in Jau prison. Other cases highlighted during the debate included Ali al-Hajee who is serving a 10-year sentence for organising pro-democracy protests, and 74-year-old Hassan Mushaima, a former opposition leader serving a life sentence in the aftermath of the 2011 pro-democracy protests.

O’Hara called on the UK to suspend the Gulf Strategy Fund, which Bahrain has benefitted from. Such demands were echoed by others in the debate. The Liberal Democrat’s Alistair Carmichael said “engagement is worthwhile only if we can see progress and a benefit from it, especially in the maintenance in human rights … The money we spend on countries such as Bahrain must show a rather better return than we have seen so far.”

He also singled out Bahrain’s interior minister – describing him as “a man who was responsible for the bloodiest days of the crackdown in 2011” – and asked why the UK government had refused to act against him. Noting previous calls for Magnitsky sanctions against Chinese officials guilty of human rights abuses, Carmichael said “We undermine our good work on China and other regimes if we do not approach governments in places such as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain with equal vigour.”

Separately, a parliamentary motion calling for sanctions to be imposed on those responsible for the imprisonment of Al-Singace – who marked his 60^th birthday on January 15 – has to date garnered support from 41 MPs, including members of opposition parties Labour, the SNP, the Liberal Democrats and others.

Limited support

One of the few to voice support for Bahrain in the debate was Conservative Party backbencher Bob Stewart, chairman of the Bahrain All-Party Parliamentary Group. He was one of a number of MPs to recently visit Bahrain and insisted “Bahrain does not have political prisoners; they are all prisoners who are there because they have committed a crime… . I am certain that nobody is in prison simply for disagreeing with the regime.”

His claims ran counter to a briefing from the House of Commons Library issued prior to the debate, which said “Over the last decade, Bharani activists, opposition leaders and journalists have faced imprisonment, sometimes after mass trials, for their opposition to the government.”

A Bahrain government spokesperson said “There are no political prisoners in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and no person is arrested or is in custody because of their political beliefs or peaceful political activity.” They added the government has a “zero-tolerance policy towards mistreatment of any kind and has put in place a robust system to investigate complaints and allegations.”

The UK government is not minded to change its approach to Bahrain. Responding for the government at the end of the debate, Middle East and North Africa minister James Cleverly insisted “We are better able to influence change through engagement, dialogue and co-operation…. Our close relationship with the Bahraini government and civil society, including non-governmental organisations, gives the UK a privileged position to positively influence developments on human rights.”

Despite the lack of movement from the UK government, Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, director of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), welcomed the debate, saying “MPs were right to denounce the culture of impunity presided over by top Bahraini officials, including Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid al-Khalifa, and I echo their call for Magnitsky sanctions to be applied.”

What are Magnitsky sanctions?

The UK first adopted Magnitsky sanctions in July 2020, when it sanctioned nationals of Myanmar, North Korea, Russia and Saudi Arabia for human rights abuses. The term takes its name from Sergei Magnitsky, who died in custody in Russia in 2009 after exposing corruption by officials. Laws have been passed in his name in a growing number of countries, starting in the U.S. in 2012, designed to tackle human rights abuses in other jurisdictions.

The UK is currently preparing to launch talks on a free trade agreement with Bahrain and the other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council bloc, but human rights issues do not appear to be on the agenda. “Surely we cannot allow a desire for a trade deal to trample over the moral obligation we have to call out human rights abusers,” said O’Hara.