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Bismillah. I learnt recently that Jaafar al-Hasabi, a 38-year-old British-Bahraini with a wife and five children, has been detained without trial in Bahrain since mid-August 2010 (Ramadan 1431). Jaafar graduated from Middlesex University in 2009 with a B.Sc. in Business Information Systems with Information Technology. He studied my module (Decision Support Systems) in 2007, which is when I got to know him briefly. He was an activist amongst some of the Arab communities in London, and seemed to be a pleasant person.
It is alleged that he has been tortured in over the last month. Jaafar had previously alleged that he had been tortured in the 1994 before coming to the UK. Details are given in the links below. The British and Bahraini governments and embassies need to act swiftly to rectify any injustices that may have occurred. We can help by campaigning appropriately for justice.
The Guardian, 7/9/2010: Britain urged to act over Bahrain torture claims
Press TV: Committee set up to pursue Bahrain “torturers”
Press conference, 7/9/2010: Bahrain’s “slide into the abyss”
The same press conference with the detailed Q&A session, including a voice challenging the activists
Some background from the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights website: attacks on activists etc. (a collection of articles)
Free Jaafar al-Hasabi page at the Gulf Cultural Club website
Jaafar’s story of torture from 1994 (REDRESS website); or read it here: JafaarAlHasabi.
Brief coverage at the “Atlas of Torture” website
The Islamic Human Rights Commission has a number of alerts about the recent arrests in Bahrain, plus a forthcoming publication (30/9/2010) about the country called “Broken Promises.”
May Allah keep Jaafar safe and reunite him with his family very soon.
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UPDATE (23/9/10):
Here is the website of the Bahraini embassy in the UK, tel. 020 7201 9170.
The main news item on the website of the UK Embassy in Bahrain (tel. +973 17574100) has a large photo of William Hague with the headlines from his speech in London 15/9/10:
Please watch this space for more info. I would also appreciate any advice, links, connections etc. in demanding justice for Jaafar. Thank you.
UNITY 