Human rights defenders, opposition activists and Shia religious leaders continue to face substantial legal harassment in the execution of their freedom of expression and association. In addition to legal harassment, which has been reported to encompass unlawful detention, torture and ill-treatment, activists may face personal threats directed at them and their families. As of March 2017, this practice was most recently outlined in the arbitrary detention of the family of exiled activist Sayed al-Wadaei.
Irrespective of condemnations from the The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Bahrain’s severe repression of human rights defenders has increased in recent years, displaying a troublesome deterioration of human rights.
Update as of 29 March 2021 On 28 March 2021, Bahrain experienced the largest single-day rise in new Coronavirus cases since the pandemic first began, with 1027 new cases confirmed Vast major... Read more
25 March 2021 – A coalition of 61 cross-party UK parliamentarians have written to new F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali urging him to “establish an independent inquiry into abuses” linked to t... Read more
25 March 2021 – New Formula One (F1) CEO Stefano Domenicali should “establish a commission of independent experts to investigate the human rights impact of F1’s activities in Bahrain”... Read more
11 March 2021 – The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly in a plenary session today to adopt an urgent resolution condemning human rights abuses in Bahrain, including the incre... Read more
15 rights groups have written to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, urging him to address a severe deterioration of human rights in Bahrain by adopting a rights-based foreign policy towar... Read more
14 February 2020 – Bahrain has “regressed in almost every area of human rights” over the decade since hundreds of thousands of Bahrainis joined pro-democracy protests during the Arab S... Read more
Please note: This letter was sent on 25 January and it was acknowledged by the European External Action Service (EEAS). The Bahraini foreign minister visit to Brussels has been rescheduled t... Read more
MP Demands Foreign Secretary Acts to End Medical Neglect of Prominent Political Prisoners in Bahrain
21 December 2020 – The chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Democracy and Human Rights in the Gulf (DHRG), Brendan O’Hara MP, has written to UK Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab... Read more
18 leading rights groups and trade unions sent a joint-letter to Formula One (F1) CEO Chase Carey urging F1 to act on human rights abuses in Bahrain ahead of upcoming races in the country Th... Read more
Secretary of State for the Middle East and North Africa promises to publish future summaries of activities funded by the secretive Integrated Activity Fund (IAF) in 2021, after refusing for... Read more
