Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): The mother of child Ahmad Al-Arab (17 years) detained in Dry Dock Prison said that her son who is on a hunger strike had been subject to severe beatings at the hands of an officer on Saturday (July 25, 2015), after he was handcuffed from behind and dragged to the restroom away from the surveillance cameras, because he refused to be called a "donkey" by one of the officers while he was heading to make a phone call to his family.

Al-Arab's mother who visited him on Monday (July 27, 2015) stated that he tried to resist and shout while the officer was beating him, until he managed to get out of the restroom and stand in front of the surveillance cameras covered in his blood, and shout: "Look! They are beating me behind the cameras so that it won't be documented."

Al-Arab confirmed to his mother that a few seconds later the officer in charge came. He seemed perplexed and asked the detainee to calm down, stressing that he will take the necessary measures against the officer who tortured him. Al-Arab, however, refused to remain silent and insisted on opening an investigation into the torture he was subjected to in the officers' restroom. The officer asked Al-Arab to write his statement down regarding what he was subjected to. However, he has not been summoned by the officials to follow up this incident.

Ahmad told his mother that the detainees are deliberately insulted and provoked on a daily basis. This usually causes the prisoners to be subjected to severe torture. The officers torture them away from surveillance cameras so that they wouldn't be held accountable. Al-Arab further stated that he was insulted during the last visit, he was also described as stupid and deaf

just because he did not hear his name when the officer called him in a low voice.

Due to this harsh treatment that the inmates have been suffering from since the events of March 10, the inmates at Dry Dock Prison began a hunger strike to have prison officials put an end to abuses, allow them to call their families twice a week, improve the meals provided to them, allow them to go to the outside yard in order to be exposed to sunlight and allow them to buy food from the shop that is specialized for them.

Ahmad Al-Arab's family demanded to know what happened to their son and have the officer who tortured him punished, stressing that their son has the right to be treated in a humane manner inside prison and that it is unacceptable to neglect this matter, adding that the prison authority should not to be satisfied by only installing surveillance cameras, it should monitor the abuses happening off camera as well.

The Arabic Issue