Hussain Jawad
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Hussain Jawad Parweez ( ar, حسين جواد برويز; born 10 December 1987) is a leading
Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
i
human rights activist A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing campai ...
. He is the Chairman and founder of the European-Bahraini Organisation for Human Rights (EBOHR). He is also one of the founders of
Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) is a human rights organization of Bahrain founded in March 2005 which was active in the Bahraini uprising. The group "organises training workshops, monitors and documents human rights violations ...
and served as its Vice-president from 2004 to 2006. Hussain has long been an advocate for peaceful and democratic change in Bahrain and is an active supporter of the freedom of expression and human rights. He has been a member of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights since 2002. Hussain Jawad, like many of his fellow activists, was detained as a result of his work as a human rights defender and for having freely expressed his opinion. Hussain was arrested in a raid on his house on February 16, 2015. He stood trial on 17 March on charges of "collecting and receiving money from home and abroad in order to support and finance subversive groups". Hussain Jawad denied the charges and told the judge he was tortured when in custody of the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID). On May 19, 2015, the 4th Lower Criminal Court ordered his release from prison with the guarantee of his place of residence. However, the cases against Mr. Jawad were not terminated (the court simply adjourned them) and Hussain still stands trial at a later date.


Arrest and the Ongoing Trial

On Monday, February 16 at around 1:30 am local time masked police in plain clothes accompanied with riot police raided the house where Hussain lived together with his wife and a two-year-old son and arrested him without any explanations. On February 18, Mr. Jawad was taken to the Public Prosecution without his lawyer or family being informed. The Public Prosecution ordered the release of Mr. Jawad pending trial on charges of "illegal gathering" and "rioting". However, he was not released but taken back to the CID to confess on a new case & other charges. Hussain Jawad allegedly "confessed" to a number of charges when he appeared before the Public Prosecution again on 21 February. Later, on 23 February, he told the Public Prosecution that he had been tortured at the CID, including by being beaten, deprived of sleep, forced to stand for a prolonged period in a cold room, insulted, humiliated and threatened with rape and sexual assault, and forced to "confess". He was questioned by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU), the body mandated to investigate and bring to court allegations of torture and other violations by the security forces, and told them he was tortured and threatened with further torture if he withdrew his confession. There is no information on the outcome of the SIU investigation into Hussain Jawad's torture allegations up till now. Hussain stood trial on 17 March before a Lower Criminal Court in
Manama Manama ( ar, المنامة ', Bahrani Arabic, Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 200,000 people as of 2020. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is h ...
, the capital of Bahrain, on charges of "collecting and receiving money from home and abroad without authorization". He was tried together with two other individuals in the same case, whom one is the
Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...
i MP Abdulhamid Dashti. Hussain Jawad denied the charges and told the judge he was tortured when in custody of the CID. On May 19, 2015 Hussain was released from prison and the cases against him were adjourned to May 29 and November 7.


International Reaction

On February 13, 2015,
Jen Psaki Jennifer Rene Psaki (; born c. 1978) is an American television political analyst who currently works for MSNBC. Previously, she was a political advisor who served under both the Obama and Biden administrations. Immediately prior to working for ...
, then a
Spokesperson for the United States Department of State The Spokesperson for the United States Department of State is a U.S. government official whose primary responsibility is to serve as the spokesperson for the United States Department of State and the U.S. government's foreign policies. The posi ...
, at her daily press briefing said that US were closely following the case of Hussain Jawad and continue to gather more information. "We do plan to observe his trial, just as we often observe open hearings in Bahrain and other countries", she said when answering one of the questions. In March 2015 (in response to a written question from
Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...
MP),
Tobias Ellwood Tobias Martin Ellwood (born 12 August 1966) is a British Conservative Party politician and soldier who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bournemouth East since 2005. He has chaired the Defence Select Committee since 2020 and was a G ...
MP, Minister of State in the United Kingdom's Foreign & Commonwealth Office, said that the government was closely following Mr Jawad's case and that UK has raised its concerns about the case. He also said that the British Embassy in Bahrain has raised the allegations of mistreatment made by Mr Jawad with the Ministry of Interior's Ombudsman and that the embassy officials have attended Mr Jawad's court appearances.


Asylum in the UK

Hussain's active role as a human rights defender has previously subjected him to harassment by the Bahraini authorities. The latest was his arrest in November 2013, when he went to file a complaint against the government claiming they were defaming him in a local newspaper. He was arrested on spot at the Central Province Police station and taken to the dry dock prison where he spent 47 days. His arrest came following a speech he delivered calling for peaceful struggle and democracy. During his imprisonment he managed to monitor and document many cases and violations against detainees, which he revealed following his release in January 2014 on bail pending trial. Looking for a better future, Jawad decided that it was best to leave Bahrain and seek refuge in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
, where he could practice his job safely. He was greeted by
UK Visas and Immigration UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) is a division of the Home Office responsible for the United Kingdom's visa system. It was formed in 2013 from the section of the UK Border Agency that had administered the visa system. History The then Home Secret ...
officials at Heathrow airport, and taken to a medium security prison for illegal immigrants. His case was placed in a Detained Fast Track special program (DFT), designed for uncomplicated cases that would eventually be returned to their home countries, despite his strong case for asylum. After UK Home Office did not process his application, Jawad decided to return to Bahrain and continue his fight for human rights on the ground. He left the UK on August 28, 2014.


Family

Hussain's father is an independent human rights activist and a famous victim of torture - Mohammed Hasan Jawad, better known as Parweez. He has campaigned specifically for human rights on behalf of detainees and prisoners. Parweez is 67 years old and has been imprisoned in Jau Central Prison since March 2011. He has been sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of "conspiring to topple the regime and collaborating with a terrorist organization". Mohammed has been among thirteen Bahraini opposition leaders, rights activists, bloggers and Shia clerics arrested between 17 March and 9 April 2011 in connection with their role in the national uprising - a group that is internationally known as "
Bahrain Thirteen The Bahrain Thirteen are thirteen Bahraini opposition leaders, rights activists, bloggers and Shia Islam, Shia clerics arrested between 17 March and 9 April 2011 in connection with their role in the Bahraini uprising (2011–present), national u ...
".


See also

*
Bahrain Human Rights Society The Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS) was set up in 2002 following wide ranging political reforms by the Bahraini government to allow the functioning of independent human rights groups. In 2010 the government dissolved the BHRS's board of dire ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jawad, Hussain 1987 births Living people Bahraini democracy activists Bahraini dissidents Bahraini torture victims Bahraini human rights activists Human Rights Watch people People of the Bahraini uprising of 2011