Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy

Mustafa Hamdan: Case Information

Map: Mustafa Hamdan was shot on 26 January in Diraz (far left). He was transported first to Bahrain International Hospital
(centre), but denied medical help. He was then transported to the Salmaniya Medical Complex (far right), where he was
finally accepted, amid a large security presence which awaited his arrival.

Mustafa Hamdan was ​shot​ on 26 January 2017, when security forces attacked demonstrators at a
peaceful sit-in in Duraz village in the middle of the night. Masked, plainclothes security forces shot
Hamdan in the back of the head at a protest with live ammunition. He succumbed to this wound
three months later, on 24 March 2017.
BIRD spoke to a witness who was meters away from Hamdan when police shot him. The witness
states that he was shot by plain-clothed officers from approximately fifty meters. The witness also
reported that there was a large police presence that night, including approximately nine civilian cars
with plainclothes officers armed with shotguns loaded with birdshot pellet, pistols and
live-ammunition rifles.
According to the same witness, the authorities arrested three people in Duraz that night and took
them to the Criminal Investigation Unit (CID) where they were detained for several days. The three
individuals were later released. According to our sources, the authorities also arrested one of the
medics onsite; he is reportedly still detained. BIRD was unable to speak to the arrested individuals.
Hamdan was denied the immediate emergency medical care he needed to survive. A resident of
Duraz rushed Hamdan to the Bahrain International Hospital. The hospital refused to admit him
without a Ministry of Interior (MOI) official present. Sources in the medical field report that the
authorities require an MOI official to be present when patients present with injuries that could be
sustained during a protest. When the people with Hamdan requested an ambulance take him to the
public Salmaniya Medical Complex, this too was refused. Hamdan’s brother arrived and took him to
Salmaniya, where 35 members of the security forces and Hamdan’s mother were waiting for them.
Hamdan’s mother was reportedly intimidated by the security forces. A medic at Salmaniya told BIRD

 Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy
there was a “massive” number of security force personnel waiting at the hospital.
Hamdan was finally accepted at Salmaniya Medical Complex, having suffered a skull fracture,
concussion and internal bleeding from the shooting. Hamdan has been in a comatose state since the
shooting.
The Government of Bahrain has released no statements about Mustafa Hamdan’s shooting. No
branch of the security forces has accepted responsibility or faced public investigation. It is suspected
that Bahrain’s National Security Agency (NSA), its domestic intelligence agency, may be involved in
the attack. The government ​restored the NSA’s law enforcement powers​ weeks before Hamdan’s
shooting. These powers had previously been stripped in 2011, after the NSA conducted mass arrests
and tortured detainees, leading to the death of one person in their custody. The government’s
decision to re-empower the NSA also walks back one of the only recommendations of the Bahrain
Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) that had been fully implemented.
Bahrain’s National Institute for Human Rights (NIHR) issued a ​statement​ on 30 January
acknowledging the head injury of Mustafa Hamdan but blamed the violence of “two groups of
masked men exchanging rockets and fires shooting” without reference to the security forces. The
NIHR failed to launch an investigation into the shooting. The NIHR’s membership is royally appointed
and the institute consistently ​absolves​ the Bahraini government of blame of human rights violations,
and is not considered independent by NGOs.
The village of Duraz has been subjected to a police blockade since 20 June 2016, when authorities
rendered stateless Sheikh Isa Qassim, the most senior Shia cleric in Bahrain. Qassim’s home in Duraz
has been the site of a peaceful sit-in since that time. Police have blocked off nearly all entrances to
the village and established checkpoints at the remaining two, excessively restricting the right to
freedom of movement of Duraz’s residents, business owners and visitors.