Abduljalil al-Singace

Abduljalil Abdulla al-Singace (, born January 15, 1962) is a Bahraini engineer, blogger, and human rights activist. He was arrested in 2009 and 2010 for his human rights activities and released later. In 2011, he was arrested, allegedly tortured and sexually abused, and sentenced to life imprisonment for pro-democracy activism during the Bahraini uprising. Al-Singace has continued to receive support from human rights organizations alongside Bahraini leaders while imprisoned.

Background Abduljalil Al-Singace is an engineer by training and was an associate professor of engineering at the University of Bahrain. Until 2005, he was the chief of mechanical engineering department when he was demoted by the head of university. His family have said that then-Prime Minister, Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, was behind this decision, due to Al-Singace's human rights activity.

Medical history Al-Singace was diagnosed with polio at a young age. Due to his paralysis, he usually uses a wheelchair or crutches for mobility. He resigned in 2005 and joined the newly formed Haq Movement for Liberty and Democracy, becoming the head of its Human Rights Bureau and its official spokesman. His blog was also blocked by authorities in February of that year, leading the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights to begin a letter-writing campaign calling for authorities "to respect freedom of expression, particularly for human rights defenders".

In June 2009, Al-Singace wrote an op-ed for The New York Times calling on Barack Obama not to talk to the Muslim world about democracy unless he truly meant to pursue it. A security official stated that Al-Singace had "abused the freedom of opinion and expression prevailing in the kingdom". Government officials later stated that Al-Singace had been arrested for "inciting violence and terrorist acts". He was briefly released before being re-arrested in March, following the widespread protests of the 2011-2012 Bahraini uprising.

On 17 March 2011, two days after protesters were evacuated from the Pearl Roundabout, Al-Singace was arrested. His family said that in the middle of night about four dozens of police, some masked in plainclothes and some people speaking in a Saudi accent, broke into their house. A family member stated that Al-Singace was beaten inside his house and on the street during the arrest, and he "saw them drag [Abdul Jalil] in his underwear and without his glasses, with a gun pointed at his head". His eldest son, Husain (28 years old) was arrested the next week and sentenced by a military court to seven years in prison on 6 October. According to his family, one month after his arrest, Al-Singace was allowed to make a ninety-second phone call to them, and another one the following month.

Trial He was brought to trial by the military National Safety Court in June 2011 and was charged with "plotting to topple" the government, receiving a life sentence. The appeals chamber of the National Safety Court upheld the sentence on 28 September. Reporters Without Borders also protested Al-Singace's sentence, stating that his only crime was "freely expressing opinions contrary to those of the government". The Bahraini Press Association described the verdict as "unfair and outrageous", "marred by abuses and violations of all legal and human rights standards".

Support On 13 August 2022, several human rights organizations released a joint statement urging the King of Bahrain, Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, to release Al-Singace immediately. On 15 January 2023, an additional letter was sent to bring the awareness of Al-Singace's imprisonment and others, with the support of 19 human rights organizations, once again addressed to the King, as well as the Prime Minister and Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. and the European Parliament called for the release of Al-Singace and other Bahraini prisoners of conscience.

In October 2022, Dr. Al-Singace was honored as the 2022 PEN Prize International Writer of Courage; the award is for those who participate in the freedom of speech, without the discouragement of the public.

In November 2023, he received the MESA Academic Freedom Reward as a way for the organization to call attention to general human rights abuses in Bahrain.