Dr.
Abduljalil al-Singace
Bahraini academic and human rights defender serving life imprisonment since 2011. On a liquid-only hunger strike since July 2021 in protest at the confiscation of his manuscripts.
- Country
- Bahrain
- Role
- Academic / researcher
- Arrested
- 17 Mar 2011
- Sentence
- Life imprisonment (June 2011, upheld on appeal 2012).
- Status
- Imprisoned (serving sentence)
- Arrested
- 17 Mar 2011
- Sentence
- Life imprisonment (June 2011, upheld on appeal 2012).
- Judicial status
- Convicted, final
- Restrictions
- Hunger strike ongoing
- Name in Arabic
- عبد الجليل السنكيس
- Charges
- Plotting to overthrow the government; forming a terrorist organisation; broadcasting false news (tried under emergency-era National Safety Court jurisdiction).
The arrest, and what followed.
Background and work
Dr. Abduljalil al-Singace is a Bahraini engineer, academic and one of the most prominent voices to emerge from the country's pro-democracy movement. A former head of mechanical engineering at the University of Bahrain, he was also a leading member of the opposition Haq Movement and used his blog to document discrimination, sectarian policy and the situation of political prisoners. His scholarship later turned to the cultural fabric of Bahrain itself, including the dialects of Arabic spoken across the islands.
Arrest and detention
He was first detained in August 2010 and released the following February, only to be re-arrested on 17 March 2011, days after the launch of the Pearl Roundabout protests. Security forces took him from his home in a night raid. In the weeks that followed he was tortured, held in solitary confinement and subjected to sexual humiliation, abuse he later detailed before a military court. He has since been recognised as one of the "Bahrain 13", a group of opposition leaders, clerics and rights defenders tried together by a special military tribunal.
Conviction and imprisonment
In June 2011, the National Safety Court sentenced him to life imprisonment on charges connected to "plotting to overthrow the government" and forming a terrorist organisation. The conviction was upheld on appeal in 2012 despite credible reports of torture and a trial that fell far below international fair-trial standards. He has been imprisoned ever since, much of it at Jaw Prison, where he has documented systematic mistreatment of detainees and the denial of medical care.
Current status as of 2026
On 8 July 2021 he began an open-ended hunger strike after prison guards confiscated his handwritten research on Bahraini Arabic dialects. He has sustained himself on water, salts and vitamin supplements ever since. By July 2026 he had completed five years refusing food and more than 15 years behind bars. He is held at the Muharraq specialised health-care centre, where he suffers from tremors, chronic pain and other serious health problems. In November 2025 the UN Committee against Torture explicitly called for his release. Bahrain has not responded.