Bahrain Mirror: Detained minors who are sentenced to prison terms re-launched a hunger strike demanding the transfer of their files to Children's Court to consider the harsh sentences issued against them.

Head of monitoring department at "Salam Organization for Democracy and Human Rights" Ibtisam Al-Saegh, stressed via her Instagram account that "6 detained minors are sentenced to prison terms ranging from 7 to 10 years. They are: Mohammad Ali Adel, Habib Ali Habib, Fadel Mohammad Amin, Sayed Ahmed Majid Mahdi, Ali Mahmoud Mohammad Ali and Hussein Said. These sentences were issued against them by the Bahraini courts while they are under 18 years."

She pointed out that "after the issuance of Children's Restorative Justice Law and their protection from ill-treatment in 2021, children hoped that the sentences issued against them would be considered."

She noted that "the children started their hunger strike after they met with the Children's Committee, the social worker, and members of official human rights institutions and had a meeting with officials from inside the prison, all of whom promised to look into their cases, but these promises have gone in vain, which prompted them to start a hunger strike again."

Al-Saegh confirmed that "the detainees refused to eat their meals on Sunday, June 11, 2023 and announced an open hunger strike," wondering "Does this law pity those children who were deprived of their childhood and were prosecuted as adults and deprived of being with their parents and society and peers at schools, or will they be neglected under the pretext that the law was issued after their trial?"

Al-Saegh demanded the government of Bahrain to enforce the law retroactively.

Arabic Version