20 December 2021 – 12 Members of the European Parliament signed a Joint Letter to High Representative Joseph Borell under the initiative of the European Center for Democracy and Human Rights (ECDHR), expressing serious concerns about the perpetrated system of oppression happening in Bahrain.
With this letter, many questions have been raised regarding the measures taken by the European External Action Service (EEAS). In particular, the MEPs mentioned the situation of the imprisoned opposition leader Hassan Mushaima and the prominent opposition activist and human rights defender Dr. Abduljalil Al Singace, who are subjected to medical negligence, torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment despite their advanced age and multiple chronic illnesses.
The letter also raised the cases of two European citizens, Abduljadi Alkhawaja, a Bahraini-Danish human rights defender and Shaikh Mohammad Habib Almiqdad, an eminent Bahraini-Swedish religious leader, scholar and social activist, who are incarcerated in Bahrain simply for calling for democracy.
Moreover, MEPs requested to impose sanctions against members of the government of Bahrain responsible for serious human rights violations, especially from members of the Bahraini Ministry of Interior.
Finally, the question has been raised as to whether the EEAS has urged the Bahraini authorities to fully comply with its international commitments such as those undertaken within the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and the Constitution of Bahrain.
According to the Members of the European Parliament, the EEAS has a central role in ensuring that international diplomatic pressure will be applied from across the international community to put an end to those practices which are in breach of International law.
The letter was signed by Dietmar Köster, Ignazio Corrao, Chris Macmanus, Nikolaj Villumsen, Martin Buschmann, Karen Melchior, Aliviina Alametsa, Helmut Scholz, Ernest Urtasun, Petras Auštrevičius, Irena Joveva, Erik Marquardt.