Geneva – The death of Bahraini citizen Sayed Mohammad al-Mousawi while in custody in Bahrain, amid serious indications of torture or other forms of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, is extremely concerning.
The incident requires the prompt initiation of an urgent, independent, impartial, and effective investigation to establish the truth, determine responsibility, and hold those involved accountable. It also revives concerns about recurring serious violations in Bahrain's places of detention, particularly the absence of effective safeguards to protect detainees and ensure their physical and psychological integrity.
Preliminary information, including photographic evidence of the body, indicates that al-Mousawi was subjected, during his short detention, to harsh conditions and severe ill-treatment, raising serious suspicions of torture or the deliberate denial of medical care. These acts constitute grave violations of the rights to life, physical and psychological integrity, human dignity, and access to medical care, and breach the absolute prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment under international law.
According to local sources, Bahraini security forces arrested al-Mousawi in Muharraq on 19 March 2026 at a checkpoint, along with others travelling in the same vehicle, reportedly in connection with his pro-Iran stance during the ongoing war. He was then subjected to enforced disappearance, as authorities refused to disclose his location and denied him access to legal counsel and meaningful contact with his family.
His relatives were later shocked to receive a call requesting that they collect his body from the Bahrain Defence Force Hospital, without the authorities providing any clear or credible official explanation, to date, for the cause and circumstances of his death.
As the detaining authority, Bahraini authorities bear full legal responsibility to protect the lives of detainees and ensure their physical and psychological safety. Any death in custody triggers, under international standards, an obligation to conduct a prompt investigation into the circumstances, determine responsibility, and hold those involved accountable, particularly in light of ongoing concerns about detention conditions and ill-treatment.
Available visual documentation of al-Mousawi's body indicates, on a preliminary basis, signs of severe physical violence during detention. These include bruising and deep, widespread haematomas across the back, arms, legs, and feet, multiple deep lacerations on one leg, visible bleeding injuries to the toes, and severe dark bruising around the eyes. Taken together, these injuries reinforce serious suspicions of torture, brutal physical assault, and degrading treatment prior to his death.
Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor warns that this incident cannot be separated from a broader regional context marked by escalating tensions linked to the US-Israel war on Iran and the tightening of security measures in several countries, including Bahrain. Authorities have reportedly carried out a wide-scale arrest campaign affecting more than 200 individuals, including women and minors, on the basis of expressing political opinions on regional developments. This raises serious concerns that the heightened security environment may have contributed to conditions more conducive to violations in places of detention, threatening detainees' lives and their physical and psychological integrity.
These practices cannot be viewed as isolated or exceptional incidents, but rather form part of a documented pattern of violations in Bahrain that United Nations mechanisms have repeatedly raised concerns about. The Committee against Torture (CAT), in its recent concluding observations, noted ongoing reports of detainees being denied fundamental legal safeguards from the moment of arrest, including lack of access to legal counsel and the absence of timely independent medical examinations, alongside allegations of torture and ill-treatment to extract confessions, and deficiencies in investigations that lack independence and effectiveness.
The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has reaffirmed in recent opinions on Bahrain the existence of a recurring pattern of violations, including arrests without warrants or notification of reasons; pre-trial detention with restricted access to judicial review, lawyers, and effective defence; enforced disappearance; coerced confessions; torture and ill-treatment; and denial of medical care. This reinforces concerns that such violations are not incidental but reflect a persistent structural failure within the country's detention and accountability system.
Reports and submissions to United Nations bodies continue to document repeated allegations of detainees in Bahrain, particularly in security or politically sensitive cases, being subjected to torture and ill-treatment. These abuses occur within the framework of broadly-worded counterterrorism legislation that permits arbitrary arrest, prolonged detention, enforced disappearance, and coerced confessions, alongside persistent shortcomings in fair trial guarantees and effective accountability.
The death of al-Mousawi in custody, and the condition in which his body was found, raise grave suspicions of torture, cruel treatment, or deliberate denial of medical care. Under international standards, such circumstances require an immediate investigation, as the United Nations affirms that any death in custody is potentially unlawful and must be investigated as a legal obligation. If it is established that the death resulted from torture or from acts or omissions attributable to those responsible for his detention, it may constitute unlawful killing, triggering individual criminal accountability.
The persistent lack of effective accountability, coupled with reliance on non-independent and inadequate investigative mechanisms, obstructs access to the truth and prevents perpetrators from being held responsible. This effectively transforms violations from acts that should be deterred into practices that may be repeated with impunity, entrenching a dangerous environment in places of detention where legal safeguards are undermined and the risks of torture, ill-treatment, and neglect are heightened.
An urgent, independent, impartial, and transparent criminal investigation must be opened into al-Mousawi's death, with the participation of independent international experts to ensure its integrity and effectiveness. Authorities should immediately disclose all circumstances surrounding his arrest, detention, and death, publish the full findings of the investigation, and guarantee his family's right to truth and justice.
Euro-Med Monitor urges that all those responsible, directly or indirectly, be held accountable for any acts of torture, ill-treatment, arbitrary denial of medical care, or any acts or omissions that contributed to al-Mousawi's death. Accountability should extend beyond direct perpetrators to include anyone who ordered, permitted, concealed, or failed to intervene to prevent violations.
All detainees in Bahrain must receive immediate and adequate medical care. All forms of torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment must be abolished, and detainees must have access from the moment of arrest to fundamental legal safeguards, including the right to contact family, access legal counsel, undergo independent medical examination, and protection from enforced disappearance and incommunicado detention.
Euro-Med Monitor urges that UN Special Rapporteurs and relevant international mechanisms, including the Special Rapporteur on torture, be allowed to visit all places of detention without restriction or prior approval, ensure independent access to detainees, and investigate allegations of torture, ill-treatment, and deaths in custody in line with relevant international standards.
The international community must exert serious and effective pressure on Bahrain to ensure it complies with international human rights obligations, refrains from overlooking grave violations, particularly those affecting the right to life and the absolute prohibition of torture. This includes establishing effective international monitoring and follow-up mechanisms, with any security or political cooperation conditioned on Bahrain's adherence to its legal obligations and accountability for violations.
Euro-Med Monitor emphasises that justice in al-Mousawi's case requires holding those directly responsible accountable and addressing the structural causes that allow torture, ill-treatment, and impunity to persist in Bahrain, to prevent recurrence and ensure redress for victims and justice for their families.
