UK unions: Release detained Bahraini teachers

British trade unions have joined Amnesty International in calling for the immediate release of two teachers who have been held in detention in Bahrain for more than four months. Release detained Bahraini teachers, say UK unions In a letter to the Bahraini Ambassador to the UK, Rashid Al-Khalifa, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress Brendan Barber expressed serious concerns over the continued detention of Jalila al-Salman and Mahdi 'Issa Mahdi Abu Dheebfor for “exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly.” “I urge your government to release them immediately and unconditionally. I also urge the authorities to protect them from torture and other ill-treatment and immediately set up an impartial and public investigation that brings to justice those found responsible for what has happened to them,” Barber said. The letter, a copy of which was obtained by IRNA, is the second by the TUC, which also wrote to the ambassador in May to express “deep concern” over the continued detention of the two teachers. Salman and Dheebfor were arrested with several other members of the Bahrain Teachers Association during March and April amid a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in the country, although their colleagues were said to have been subsequently released. Details of Salman's arrest was that her house in Manama was raided on 29 March by more than 40 security officers, and that she was taken to the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) where she was reportedly beaten and held in solitary confinement Both were eventually brought to trial before the National Safety Court of First Instance, a military court on 15 June on charges which include 'inciting hatred towards the regime', 'calling to overthrow and change the regime by force', 'calling on parents not to send their children to school' and 'calling on teachers to stop working and participate in strikes and demonstrations'. After further hearings on 22 and 29 June, both cases are understood to have been transferred to a civilian court but postponed until further notice with no date set for any trial. Amnesty International has issued an urgent appeal for their release, saying “they are likely to be prisoners of conscience, detained solely for exercising their legitimate rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly as leading members of the BTA”.