Event of the Week (Friday – September 5, 2025): The Special Investigation Unit… 13 Years of Whitewashing Murder and Torture Crimes
On September 2, 2025, the so-called “Special Investigation Unit” issued a report on its activities during the second third of 2025, in which it claimed to have conducted investigations into complaints against security forces on charges related to physical ill-treatment, and alleged that some had been referred to the military court.
The report comes as part of campaigns to polish the image of the authorities in Bahrain, particularly with the influx of foreign delegations, including American and British ones, aimed at providing consultations to improve the image of the security apparatus run by Rashed Al Khalifa, whom citizens describe as a terrorist due to his involvement in violations related to freedoms, especially freedom of belief. In this regard, what stood out in the U.S. Department of State’s report on human rights conditions in Bahrain for 2024 was its claim that the authorities had taken “credible steps to identify officials who committed human rights abuses and hold them accountable,” a conclusion that demonstrates the Americans’ sponsorship of Al Khalifa’s affairs and their provision of international protection for them.
The Special Investigation Unit was established by decision of the Public Prosecutor No. (8) of 2012, at the peak of the violations witnessed in Bahrain to suppress the February 14 Revolution, when international reports exposed grave crimes committed against citizens and activists, including torture leading to death. The declared objective of the Unit is to investigate allegations of torture, identify those responsible, and refer them for prosecution, and it is marketed as an independent body. But the question is: Who appoints the Public Prosecutor in Bahrain?
Ali Fadhel Al-Buainain was appointed Public Prosecutor by “Royal Decree” No. (30) of 2005, and since then he has held this position, which represents the pinnacle of the Public Prosecution authority—the most powerful institution in Bahrain responsible for prosecuting crimes and initiating cases. The Public Prosecutor serves the one who appoints him and holds his authority, namely the tyrant Hamad. For this reason, Al-Buainain denies the existence of systematic torture, which led Human Rights Watch to criticize the Special Investigation Unit and affirm its lack of independence and its failure to follow up on torture complaints. Yet Al-Buainain responded to the organization, claiming that “the Unit has no counterpart in the Middle East”!
