According to the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report,[4] physical and psychological abuses were inflicted by the NSA and the MoI systematically and in many cases amounted to torture.
[7] However Royal Decree 56 of 2002 gave effective immunity to all those accused of torture during 1990s uprising and before (including notorious figures such as Ian Henderson[8] and Adel Flaifel.[9]).
[10] Detainees have described a number of specific techniques used by the Bahraini authorities to obtain information, induce confessions, inflict punishment or simply for revenge.
[2]: 37 A number of detainees were sexually assaulted by touching and violent handling of their genitals or finger thrusts and the insertion of objects including hosepipes and ends of rifle barrels into the anus.
Amnesty International and Médecins Sans Frontières examined the body, and reported the presence of wounds inflicted by sharp objects, suggesting that he had been tortured while detained.
He died on 9 April 2011, officially as a result of massive heart failure and cardiac arrest following complications of sickle-cell disease while in Ministry of the Interior custody.
Although the Ministry of Interior informed the family that he had died from sickle-cell disease while asleep, a blindfolded cellmate described hearing prison guards enter their cell and beat Zakariya to death when he refused to be quiet.
[3]: 243–4 Ali Saqer was a 31-year-old Bahraini from Sehla who died on 9 April 2011 from hypovolemic shock due to multiple traumas sustained during torture in the custody of the Ministry of the Interior.
[14] Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab was reported to the Military Prosecutor by the Interior Ministry for posting allegedly doctored photos of Ali Saqer's corpse to his Twitter account.
[3]: 244–5 Jaber Ebrahim Yousif Mohamed Alawiyat was a 41-year-old Bahraini from the village of Khamis who died on 12 June 2011 from injuries sustained while in Ministry of the Interior custody.
When his family filed a missing persons report on 11 January 2012, they were told by a police officer that Yousif was at the General Directorate of Criminal Investigations and Forensic Evidence (CID) in Adliya.
Mulawi's uncle told the family's lawyer Hanan AlAradi that there were obvious signs of torture on his nephew's head and neck, cigarette burns on his arms and bruises on various parts of the body.
Al Wefaq called for an international independent investigation in the case, alleging a loss of all confidence in the integrity of the Bahraini judiciary and security forces.
[2]: 35 The BICI report described a "culture of complete impunity" by the lack of accountability within the security forces that was supported by judges and public officials of "implicitly condoning" misbehavior.