Hussain Jawad

Hussain Jawad Parweez (; born 10 December 1987) is a leading Bahraini human rights activist. 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 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). However, the cases against Mr. Jawad were not terminated (the court simply adjourned them) and Hussain still stands trial at a later date.

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 tried together with two other individuals in the same case, whom one is the Kuwaiti MP Abdulhamid Dashti. Hussain Jawad denied the charges and told the judge he was tortured when in custody of the CID.

In March 2015 (in response to a written question from Jeremy Corbyn MP), Tobias Ellwood 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. He was greeted by UK Visas and Immigration 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.

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".