Priti Patel was given a tour of a notorious police station in Bahrain where human rights activists have been tortured and sexually assaulted – including a man granted asylum in the UK.
The visit has been condemned by human rights groups and those mistreated at the General Directorate of Muharraq Governorate Police, by Bahrain’s infamous National Security Agency.
They include Yusuf al Jamri, a democracy activist granted asylum by the Home Office after revealing how he was tortured and threatened with rape, at the police station, in 2017.
“I can’t understand why Priti Patel would pay a state visit to the same police station, flanked by the people who have allowed my torturers to walk free,” he told The Independent.
“How can the Home Office accept that I was tortured at this site, then send the Home Secretary there for a photo opportunity?”
Ebtisam Al-Saegh and Naja Yusuf, who were both imprisoned for criticising Bahrain’s ruler, also accused the security agency of torture and sexual assault at the same police station.
Ms Al-Saegh said Ms Patel was “helping to whitewash the abuses”, adding: “I could have shown her round the rooms I was tortured in and shared the grave reality individuals like myself were subjected to.”
The visit, which was not publicised in the UK, took place despite a BBC documentary detailing, in March, what had happened to the two women at Muharraq.
Their cases have been raised frequently in Parliament – and Ms Al-Saegh has met Foreign Officials, recounting how she was beaten repeatedly and threatened with the rape and murder of family members.
Ms Patel was in Bahrain last weekend to attend the 2020 Manama Dialogue, an annual conference on security in the Middle East.
At Muharraq, she was accompanied by the chief of police, Tariq Al-Hasan, who has been accused of failing to end torture. His brother was the police station’s director when Ms Al-Saegh and Ms Yusuf suffered their abuse.
Ms Patel also held talks with Sheikh Khalifa bin Ali Al Khalifa, the minister of justice, when she reportedly praised Bahrain’s progress.
“By visiting this site, accompanied by the British ambassador, the Home Secretary is emboldening torturers and bolstering the culture of impunity that reigns in the country,” said Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, director of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy
And Jeed Basyouni, of the human rights organisation Reprieve, said: “To set up a photo op for the Home Secretary at a police station where we know people were tortured shows that the government is more interested in PR than in actually protecting human rights in Bahrain.”
Since violently crushing a pro-democracy protest movement in 2011, the island’s Sunni-led monarchy has been fiercely criticised for cracking down on civil liberties and dismantling political opposition.
But the UK government continues to provide Bahrain with security advice, resisting calls to end the arrangement on the grounds that it needs support to “head in a positive direction”.
The Home Office did not dispute that Ms Patel had praised Bahrain – and declined to respond to the criticism of her.
A spokesperson said: “The government is committed to supporting Bahrain as it continues to make important security, police and justice reforms, and we will continue to work closely together to promote security and stability in the Gulf region and across the world.
“It is important for the UK to engage with countries around the world on issues such as justice reform and that we work closely with international partners to tackle common threats, including terrorism, to keep our country safe.”
