Shaikh Hamad bin ‘Issa Al Khalifa Office of His Majesty the King

From:

King

Shaikh Hamad bin ‘Issa Al Khalifa

Office of His Majesty the King

P.O. Box 555

Rifa’a Palace

al-Manama

Bahrain
Fax: [phone]

Date:
Your Majesty,

I am writing to you because I am extremely concerned about the situation of the following professional health workers, whose appeal is due to be heard on January 9:

‘Ali ‘Esa Mansoor al-‘Ekri (m) Nader Mohammed Hassan Dewani (m) Ahmed ‘Abdulaziz Omran Hassan (m)
Mahmood Asghar ‘Abdulwahab (m) ‘Abdulkhaleq ‘Ali Hussain al-‘Oraibi (m) Ghassan Ahmed ‘Ali Dhaif (m)
Bassim Ahmed ‘Ali Dhaif (m) Ebrahim ‘Abdullah Ebrahim (m) Sayed Marhoon Majid al-Wedaei (m)
Roula Jassim Mohammed al-Saffar (f) Nada Sa’eed ‘Abdelnabi Dhaif (f) ‘Ali Hassan al-Sadadi (m)
Qassim Mohammad ‘Omran (m) Hassan Mohammed Sa’eed Nasser (m) Sa’eed Mothaher Habib Al Samahiji (m)
Fatima Salman Hassan Haji (f) Dhia Ibrahim Ja’far (f) Najah Khalil Ibrahim Hassan (f)
Zahra Mahdi al-Sammak (f) Mohammed Faeq ‘Ali Al Shehab (m)
These men and women are appealing against the sentences passed by a military court on September 29, in connection with the popular protests that took place in February and March this year, and I ask you to ensure that the appeal complies with international standards for fair trial.

I fear that these defendants may be imprisoned solely because they peacefully exercised their rights to freedom of expression and assembly. Thus, if they are imprisoned, they are prisoners of conscience.

There have been disturbing allegations that some of the defendants have been tortured or otherwise ill-treated. These allegations are of great concern and I would like to ask you to order an independent and impartial investigation of the allegations immediately. The results of the investigation should be published and anyone found responsible must be brought to justice.

Thank you for your intervention in this matter.

Yours very sincerely,

Copy of this letter to:

Ambassade du Royaume de Bahreïn, Paris, France.