Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman James P. McGovern (D-MA), Co-Chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and a leading congressional advocate for human rights at home and abroad, has called on the government of Bahrain to free Mohamed Ramadan and Hussein Moosa. The two men were convicted and sentenced to death in 2014 on terrorism charges, despite stating they were tortured and sexually assaulted to force a confession.

“Mohamed Ramadan and Hussein Moosa were tortured and that means their convictions and sentences are inherently unjust,” said Congressman McGovern. “The Court of Cassation recognized this fact when it reversed the sentences in 2018. It is a travesty that these two men are still imprisoned and face execution.”

The death sentences were initially confirmed by Bahrain’s Court of Cassation in November 2015, then reversed three years later due to evidence of torture. In January 2020 an appeals court reinstated the convictions and the death sentences. On Monday, July 13, there will be a final appeal.  

“Bahrain should free these two men by granting a pardon or commuting their sentences,” continued McGovern. “And the government should allow United Nations experts to independently investigate their claims of torture. Bahrain will only further damage its terrible human rights record by refusing to stop this injustice.”

Since the arrest of Ramadan and Moosa, the European Parliament, numerous United Nations Special Rapporteurs, the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and international and local human rights organizations, have denounced the serious violations of their right to a fair trial and called for their release.