Bahrain Press Association Condemns the Stripping of Almwsawi’s Nationality and Sentencing him to 10 Years in Prison

London- Tuesday 24 November 2015: Bahrain Press Association strongly condemns the decision to sentence the photographer Sayed Ahmed Almusawaito 10 years in prison, which has been issued by the Bahraini Court during a hearing yesterday Monday 23 November 2015.
The association also condemns the decision to strip the nationality of the individuals accused of “founding a terrorist group” including Syed Ahmed Almusawai. Lawyers representing the group were informed of the decision via a telephone call!
The association calls on all organizations and international institutions, which support freedom of opinion, expression, and journalism to urgently intervene with the Bahraini authority and seek to stop such political trials. The association also stresses on the fact that arresting photographers and media personnel is an indication to a general tendency to take revenge on media personnel, photographers, and all activists who help in documenting security incidents in the country.
The association also condemns the decisions to withdraw the nationality of a number of Bahraini journalists and media personnel over the last two years.
It is noteworthy that the photographer Ahmed Almusawi was arrested in February 2014 without an arrest warrant because he was accused of joining a terrorist group and committing two other offences namely: demonstrating and riot.
The family of Almusawi have confirmed on more than one occasion that he was subjected to total stripping of clothes, hanging (as a torture method), electric shocks, and being forced to stand for long hours over four days in addition to other unethical abuses.
The photographer Syed Ahmed Almusawi, a member of the International Federation of Photographic Art (FIAP), the Photographic Society of America (PSA), United Press International (UPI), has won 169 awards three of which were won during the eighth session of the international Marzo Competition of 2014 in Italy. Almusawi’s awards included the gold medal of (FIAP), the silver medal of (UPI), and the bronze medal of FIAP.