Some of the Torture Jaafar Sultan Endured in Saudi Arabia

2022-05-26 - 5:41 م

Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): On May 8, 2015, Saudi authorities arrested Bahraini citizens Jaafar Sultan and Sadeq Thamer, and since then their suffering and torture began.

According to a number of human rights organizations and activists, the death sentence has been ratified by the Supreme Court against the two Bahraini citizens, who are now in a very dangerous situation, as their death penalty may be carried out any day.

Human rights groups have intensified their appeals to the Saudi authorities to stop the execution of the two youths.

The case of Jaafar and Sadeq was not a normal one, as the two were surprised to be accused of attempting to transport explosive materials to Saudi Arabia, and did not have the opportunity to deny this charge during interrogation or during their trial.

According to documents related to the case, Jaafar Sultan and his colleague Sadeq Thamer continued to be subject to three months of beatings and torture. As a result, Sultan was transferred to the hospital due to the brutality he was subjected to, where he remained for 10 days. 

At the hospital, he was asked to sign statements and confessions made in accordance with the wording the "investigator" wanted, otherwise he would not be able to contact his family. Jaafar Sultan was told so after being admitted to the hospital for 10 days as a result of the torture he was subjected to in Saudi Arabia. This is the summary of a document published by the Saudi opposition activist Adel Al-Saeed via his Twitter account.

The published statement read: the attorney-general relied in his lawsuit on confessions extracted by the defendant, noting that his confessions were extracted under duress, torture, intimidation and threats. Besides, the defendant was prevented from contacting his family for 3 and a half months. He was also admitted to the hospital as a result of torture during investigation and remained there for 10 days. He was told there that we will not be able to see his family unless he signs the confessions attributed to him, which were written in the way the investigator wanted.  

Sultan and Thamer have denied the charges brought against them and see them as politically motivated. Human rights organizations have documented the torture they were subjected to by Saudi security forces to extract confessions during detention. 

The lawyers asked the Saudi judge to address the hospital administration officially in order to make sure that Jaafar Sultan was in the hospital during that period, However, the Saudi judiciary issued the death sentence and did not take into account a very clear matter, such as the admission of a detainee to the hospital during the interrogation period, as well as confirming whether the detained young man was tortured, and conducting an independent forensic medical examination to identify the effects of that torture. 

The lives of Jaafar Sultan and Jaafar Thamer are at stake in a kingdom that carried out mass execution against 81 detainees last March.

Arabic Version