When Naji Fateel was arrested following the Arab Spring uprising in Bahrain, his youngest son, Nidal, was a toddler.
Last month, when Fateel left prison, on a bus full of inmates freed thanks to a surprise royal pardon, the Nidal who greeted him was a teenager. Fateel, 49, a human rights activist, hugged his son and emerged, dazed, into a life that had changed forever.
“It was an indescribable moment,” he said, “the first hug after freedom.”
After more than a decade in prison, Fateel was freed in April in a mass pardon that included more than 1,500 prisoners – the largest pardon since the reign of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain began in 1999.
The government media office did not reveal how many people remain behind bars in Bahrain, an island nation in the Persian Gulf. But the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, a human rights group run by Bahraini exiles, estimates that the pardon freed more than half of the country’s prison population, including more than 600 political prisoners.
Many of them, including Fateel, were jailed after joining pro-democracy protests in 2011 that evolved into a widespread uprising and were crushed by the authoritarian monarchy, a key US ally, with the help of the military. neighbors.
Bahrain’s government described the pardon as a benevolent gesture by the king on the 25th anniversary of his ascension, saying it was done to “maintain the cohesion and stability of Bahraini society.” The pardoned people, he claimed, had been convicted in “criminal and riot cases,” and Bahraini officials have denied that any prisoners are being held for political reasons.
But Bahraini human rights activists said the pardon, while welcome, was incomplete and called for the release of several opposition leaders still jailed. The pardon came two weeks after the death of a Bahraini inmate in his 30s sparked protests among prisoners and on the streets.
Anger and grief over the Israeli bombing of Gaza had deepened political tensions in Bahrain and many other Arab countries, putting the rift between leaders and their citizens into sharpest focus in years.
Even before the war, analysts and activists have said, Bahrain was on edge because of friction between the government and opposition movements that has persisted since the pro-democracy uprising was put down. In August, hundreds of prisoners began a mass hunger strike that lasted weeks and sparked street protests.
After the inmate who died, Hussain Khalil Ibrahim, collapsed from a heart attack while playing football, Fateel led a group of prisoners who attempted to negotiate with the prison administration over his possible release, he said, arguing that it was unthinkable to remain imprisoned. while we see our companions fall, one by one.” The inmates accused authorities of chronic medical neglect.
Bahrain’s government said Ibrahim had received regular medical treatment and had high blood pressure and other conditions, adding that it was committed to “providing integrated medical care to all inmates.”
In an interview after his release, Fateel said the years he spent behind bars were characterized by “oppression, pain and anguish.”
Prosecutors had accused him of being one of the main organizers of the Arab Spring protests trying to overthrow the government, and Bahraini activists and Western politicians spent years calling for his release. Initially sentenced to 15 years in prison, he was charged with inciting a prison riot and sentenced to another 10 years. Fateel has denied the charges, calling them “politicized” and said his confessions were obtained under torture.
A U.N. working group that reviewed his case determined that his imprisonment was arbitrary and said the government “failed to establish a legal basis” for his detention. The same task force documented allegations that Mr. Fateel was tortured, including through beatings and electrocution.
In its response to the task force, the government said Fateel was a “member of a terrorist cell” and that allegations of mistreatment were “baseless.”
Fateel, who was 38 when he was arrested, spent his 40th birthday behind bars and hoped to spend his 50th there too, separated from his five children.
Last month, when he found out there might be an actual pardon, “it was the happiest news of my life,” he said.
Hamed Al-Mahfouz, 41, who was freed thanks to the pardon, said he felt conflicted when he learned that he would be freed while others would not.
“I left my brothers behind and I feel sorry for them,” he said. “But it’s a pleasure to meet loved ones.”
Mr. Al-Mahfouz was 28 years old when he was arrested. Prosecutors accused him of leading a terrorist cell and communicating with Iranian officials. He believed he had presented the court with “conclusive evidence” proving his innocence, he said, but he was sentenced to 15 years in prison and had his citizenship revoked.
When news of the royal pardon came, his wife, Iman Hussein, said she initially gave up hope that her husband would be among those freed. She then began “screaming with joy” when a relative sent her a video of released prisoners that showed her husband, she said. Bahraini human rights activists had shared videos of people cheering in the streets as buses unloaded inmates.
While Al-Mahfouz was happy to be home, he said he was unsure what the future held and hoped to receive compensation “for the years I lost” and help finding a job.
The government said in a statement that a reintegration program would support released prisoners with a “series of educational and training programmes, employment opportunities and targeted interventions where necessary to help manage the transition back into society”.
Fateel said it was difficult to imagine his future.
“I planned in prison and made projects and scenarios for after my release,” he said. “But when I came out, I was still in disbelief.”
He found that life outside had moved on without him: He had trouble using a smartphone and even forks and spoons seemed novel after years of eating with his hands, he said. He did not know the husbands of his daughters and knew his grandchildren who had been born while he was in prison. He said he valued the pardon but hoped the government would take steps to address the “moral, psychological and material harm” the prisoners had suffered.
The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy believes there are still more than 500 political prisoners detained, including several prominent Bahraini opposition figures such as Hassan Mushaima, 76, former leader of the Haq Movement for Freedom and Democracy, and Abdulhadi Al Khawaja, a dual Bahraini-Danish citizen and human rights activist.
“These are bittersweet liberations because they are still behind us,” said Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, the institute’s advancement director.
Still, Nabeel Rajab, 59, a Bahraini human rights activist who was released from prison in 2020, said the release of so many prisoners was positive.
“Royal forgiveness gave us hope for a new beginning,” he said.