Today, Bahrain’s High Criminal Court sentenced five people to life imprisonment on charges of conspiring with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and convicted twenty-five others for “supporting and endorsing Iranian terrorist attacks” by filming, photographing prohibited locations, and other charges related to social media use. The verdicts are the latest in a sustained pattern of repression that has intensified since the start of the US-Israel/Iran conflict, resulting in more than 300 arrests, citizenship revocations, and now mass convictions, the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) stated today.
The head of Bahrain’s Terrorism Crimes Prosecution announced the “verdicts in two separate cases relating to espionage with foreign entities.” Six individuals were tried, including four Bahraini citizens and two Afghan nationals, resulting in the life imprisonment of five defendants and the acquittal of one. The Court also ordered the deportation of the two Afghan defendants upon completion of their sentences.
In a separate post, the Terrorism Crimes Prosecution announced convictions in twenty-two cases resulting in the conviction of twenty-five defendants; twenty-four of whom received sentences from five to ten years in prison and one charged with one year in prison, and fines of 2,000 dinars for all. BIRD has confirmed that one of those convicted was well-known social media influencer and photojournalist Sayed Baqer al-Kamel. Kamel, sentenced to ten years, posted a video of a high-rise building on fire because of an Iranian missile which hit the Seef district of Bahrain on 28 February 2026. The video, in which Kamel also asked his viewers to pray for Bahrain, has since been deleted from his profiles.
According to multiple interviews that BIRD conducted with lawyers and family members, these individuals had no access to legal counsel while in detention or at any time before their trials began, a clear violation of their right to a fair defense. Lawyers also raised concerns regarding access to the Public Prosecution’s evidence, as they were only able to take notes from the prosecution’s documents rather than receiving their own copies.
Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Director of Advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, said: “These verdicts represent the first political convictions since the US-Israel/Iran conflict began. The convictions are clear violations of international standards of due process: defendants had no access to legal counsel prior to their appearance before a judge, and lawyers had no access to the government’s evidence against their clients. This is a mockery of justice under the cover of counter-terrorism legislation.”
Background information
These verdicts come against a backdrop of escalating repression in Bahrain in relation to the conflict in Iran. Bahrain’s crackdown on civic space has had fatal consequences, leading to the death in custody by torture of 32-year-old Sayed Mohamed Almosawi on 27 March 2026, who was detained on accusation of Iranian espionage, a claim his family strongly denies. Mr Almosawi’s case is a rare admission of the Government’s culpability following the Special Investigation Unit’s acknowledgement that his death resulted from assault by a security official.
The crackdown has also extended to nationality rights. On 27 April 2026, 69 Bahraini nationals had their citizenship stripped for national security reasons related to the Iran conflict. This followed King Hamad’s announcement on 19 April 2026 that citizenship status would be reviewed for individuals considered to have “betrayed the nation”. This new crackdown takes place alongside similar directives in Kuwait, signalling potential regional coordination amidst the US-Israel/Iran conflict.
