Mahdi Abu Dheeb, president of the Bahraini Teachers’ Association, is said to be in poor health and is being refused medical treatment as he continues to serve a five year prison sentence.
Education International (EI) has learned that the health of Abu Dheeb, the imprisoned president of affiliate Bahraini Teachers’ Association (BTA), is deteriorating without medical care. Abu Dheeb was sentenced by a military court in April 2011 on unwarranted charges and is due for release in April 2016.
In response to the dire situation, EI has called on its affiliates to join an Amnesty International appeal asking the Bahraini authorities to give Abu Dheeb access to the care he desperately needs, and release him from prison.
In need of urgent medical help
Officers of the Jaw prison have been preventing Abu Dheeb from receiving his medication for hypertension and diabetes and other medications since March 2015. Reports allege that the prison doctor told the BTA president that his family needed to bring this medication to the prison, as well as supportive shoes for him to wear to help alleviate his back pain. However, the prison officers refused to take it saying that they have not received orders allowing him medication from outside of the prison.
Suffering diabetes and hypertension, Abu Dheeb also sustained back injuries, including a slipped disk, from his torture during the 64 days he was held in solitary confinement after his arrest on 6 April 2011. He has since found it difficult to walk without support and has had to occasionally use a wheelchair. He told his family that during the prison riots in March 2015, he was forced to stand for a prolonged period of time, and is now not able to walk without support.
Ongoing repression and criminalisation
The repression of civil liberties and criminalisation of teachers and unionists for exercising their legitimate human rights continue in Bahrain. Since it was dissolved by the Ministry of Social Development in 2011, the BTA has not been allowed to be re-established.
Jalila al-Salman, vice-president of the BTA, who served nearly six months in prison, still suffers from a job ban and restrictions to her right to free speech. She has been without a salary for more than four years.
Education International support
Education International continues to support the BTA and the Bahraini teachers. At the request of EI, the Bahrain representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross committed to visit Abu Dheeb in prison and to engage with the authorities regarding his health condition. New allegations have also been submitted to the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association, expanding on the original complaint made by EI and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in October 2011.