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.
9 November 2018 – 20 Parliamentarians expressed their serious concerns over the legitimacy of the upcoming elections for the Council of Representatives of Bahrain’s National Assembly i... Read more
18 October 2018 – Today, 9 NGOs including the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), wrote to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and UN Experts, urging them to publi... Read more
2 October 2018 – Yesterday, the Bahrain National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR) issued a statement denying the allegations of mistreatment reported by three women in Bahrain’s Isa Town... Read more
19 September 2018 – On 16 September, female political prisoner Hajer Mansoor Hassan, mother-in-law of UK-based activist Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, was subjected to assault and retaliation,... Read more
12 September 2018 – Today, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) published its 9th annual report by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres, which details t... Read more
4 September 2018 – Today, prominent activist Zainab Alkhawaja joined Ali Mushaima on the 35th day of his hunger strike outside the Bahraini Embassy in London. Ali is demanding basic hu... Read more
Paris-Geneva-Manama, 29 August 2018 – For the second time since 2013, the United Nations (UN) Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has issued an Opinion regarding the legality of the... Read more
13 July 2018 – On 5 July, Bahraini female political prisoner, Hajer Mansoor, was subjected to further threats and reprisals by Major Maryam Albardoli, the head of Isa Town Prison Centr... Read more
On 2 July, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Democracy and Human Rights in the Gulf, chaired by Karen Lee MP, collaborated with the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD... Read more
25 June 2018 – Today, Bahrain’s Fourth Criminal Court handed down three-year sentence to female political activist, Najah Ahmed Yousif, on politically motivated charges. Judge Ali Aldh... Read more
