‘Save my father’: Child writes letter to Lewis Hamilton for father on death row

A Bahraini child, whose father is facing the
death penalty, recently sent a letter to British F1 driver and seven-time
Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton, urging to shed light on the case, amid
allegations of torture, AFP reported.

11-year-old Ahmed Ramadhan drew a picture of
Hamilton’s car, pleading for help: “Lewis, please save my father.”

“When
I was drawing the car, I felt hope that it might save my father’s life,”
AFP quoted Bahrain Institute of Rights and Democracy (BIRD) referring to the
child as saying.

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The boy
hoped that Hamilton delivers his message so that his father “comes back home”.

The
latter, on the other hand. Confirmed in a press conference at Abu Dhabi that he
had received the letter.

“I think the saddest thing for me was that there’s a young
man on death row and it’s not clear … and when his son writes me a letter it
really hits home,” AFP quoted Hamilton as saying ahead of the Abu Dhabi
Grand Prix’s final race.

In July 2020, Bahrain’s top court upheld a death sentence
against Mohamed Ramadhan and Hussain Moosa convicted of murdering a police
officer in a bomb attack, with allegations popping up later that the
convictions for the crime were issued by confessions extracted by torture.

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The accused are members of the Shiite community in Sunni-ruled
Bahrain, and were first sentenced in 2014.

“I’d
hoped… to sit and address it with the crown prince, but I was bed-ridden for
most of the week,”  said Hamilton, stating
he hoped to discuss the issue with Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al
Khalifa.