URGENT ACTION

PRISONER DENIED FULL MEDICAL CHECK-UP

On 25 February 2019, the Court of Cassation upheld Hajer Mansoor Hassan’s conviction and three-year prison sentence. Since August 2018, Hajer has suffered from a lump in her breast, which she feared might be cancerous. The authorities did not inform her of the results of medical tests, including a mammogram, and ignored her repeated request to be referred to a specialist. On 24 February 2019, following an international outcry, Hajer was taken to the Bahrain Defence Force Hospital where she was told that the lump in her breast was not cancerous. The doctor requested that she underwent urgent x-rays immediately, but the accompanying officers returned her to Isa Town Detention Centre for Women without further medical examination.

TAKE ACTION: WRITE AN APPEAL IN YOUR OWN WORDS OR USE THIS MODEL LETTER

   Minister of Interior Shaikh Rashid bin ‘Abdullah Al Khalifa
Ministry of Interior
P.O. Box 13, al-Manama, Bahrain
Fax: +973 1723 2661
Twitter: @moi_Bahrain

Your Excellency, 

On 25 February 2019, the Court of Cassation upheld Hajer Mansoor Hassan’s conviction and three-year prison sentence following an unfair trial. Hajer is the mother-in-law of prominent human rights activist, Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, who is based in the UK. She is currently detained in Isa Town Detention Centre for Women in Bahrain. Amnesty believes that Hajer Mansoor is a prisoner of conscience, who was convicted in an unfair trial aiming at putting pressure on Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei.

Additionally, it appears that Hajer Mansoor’s harassment is set to continue. On 24 February 2019, and following an international outcry, Hajer was taken to the Bahrain Defence Force Hospital. She was informed that the lump in her breast was a non-cancerous cyst for which the doctor requested in writing that further tests be carried out immediately, including urgent x-rays. Against this medical advice, the officers accompanying her to the hospital returned her to the prison without attempting to arrange for any further medical examination, including the x-rays, to be carried out.

We call on the Bahraini authorities to ensure that Hajer Mansoor Hassan’s conviction and sentence are quashed and that she is immediately and unconditionally released. We further call upon you to order the prison authorities to ensure that, pending her release, Hajer is granted access to adequate medical care as necessary and in a timely manner.

Kind regards,

Additional information

Hajer (also spelt Hajar) Mansoor Hassan, aged 50, is the mother-in-law of Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, the Director of Advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD). Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei has been based in the UK since 2012. The Bahraini authorities have since been persecuting him and his family. 

On 25 February 2019, the Cassation Court upheld the convictions and sentences of Hajer Mansoor, her son Sayed Nizar (also spelt Nazar) Alwadaei and their cousin, Mahmood Marzooq Mansoor. They were sentenced to three years imprisonment on charges of “planting fake bombs” in an area southwest of Manama, Bahrain’s capital, after a grossly unfair trial in which they say they were tortured to “confess”. It took the authorities three days to notify Hajer of the Cassation Court’s decision, despite her multiple requests to be informed and to contact her lawyer about the verdict.

In August 2018, Hajer discovered a lump in her breast for which she underwent medical tests including a mammogram. She feared the lump might have been cancerous. The prison authorities ignored her requests to be referred to a specialist. On 24 February 2019, after an international outcry, Hajer was taken to the Bahrain Defence Force Hospital and was told that the lump in her breast was a non-cancerous cyst. The examining doctor wrote a note requesting that she underwent further examination, including urgent x-rays. The x-rays could have been done immediately while she was still in the hospital, however, the accompanying officers transferred her back to Isa Town Detention Centre. Hajer asked them when an appointment for her x-rays would be made, they responded: “may be in one, two or three months [time]”.

Bahrain’s prison system is marred by regular instances of negligence, delay, and arbitrary exercise of authority, which in specific cases rise to the level of intentional ill-treatment, and which result in treatment that is below the minimum acceptable standard for detainees and prisoners. Medical treatment is provided within the prison system but is far below the level of need and is frequently subject to bad-faith, disruptions, delays, and denial. There can be no justification for Bahrain not providing adequate health care to all prisoners.

PREFERRED LANGUAGE TO ADDRESS TARGET: Arabic or English
You can also write in your own language.

PLEASE TAKE ACTION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE UNTIL: 17 April 2019. 
Please check with the Amnesty office in your country if you wish to send appeals after the deadline.

NAME AND PREFERRED PRONOUN: Hajer Mansoor Hassan (She/her)

LINK TO PREVIOUS UA: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde11/9886/2019/en/

Additional TARGETS

And copies to:

King 
Shaikh Hamad bin ‘Issa Al Khalifa  
Office of His Majesty the King 
P.O. Box 555 
Rifa’a Palace, al-Manama, Bahrain 
Fax: +973 1766 4587 
Salutation: Your Majesty

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. His Excellency Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain, 30 Belgrave Square, London, SW1X 8QB, Tel: 0207 201 9170, Fax 020 7201 9183, Email: information@bahrainembassy.co.uk or through the online contact form at http://www.bahrainembassy.co.uk/ Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.

Please note that the best way to reach the targets is by post, fax or twitter and that is why we have not provided any email addresses.