ADHRB Condemns Saudi Military Operation in Awamiyah

On Wednesday 10 May, Saudi security forces launched a raid into the Eastern Province city of Awamiyah. The raid is ongoing and has resulted in security forces shooting and killing at least one individual. While Saudi security forces have run military and security operations in Awamiyah several times since 2011, activists say this raid is[…]

UN Committee Against Torture Releases Concluding Report on Bahrain

12 May 2017 – The United Nations (UN) Committee Against Torture (CAT) released its concluding observations regarding Bahrain’s second and third periodic reports today as the panel’s 60th session comes to a close in Geneva. This session marked the first time in five years that the CAT has conducted a review of Bahrain’s record of[…]

Khaled Al-Omair and Saudi Arabia’s Abusive Prison Practices

On 12 April 2017, the Saudi Arabian government released human rights defender Khaled Al-Omair from prison, more than six months after the completion of his eight-year sentence. He had been imprisoned on charges including “breaking obedience with the ruler” and “embarking on a protest.” These charges related to his attempts to hold demonstrations protesting Israeli[…]

UNDP engages with Bahraini government at expense of UN human rights goals

On 7 May, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bahraini government’s Isa Cultural Center (ICC) regarding promotion of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Just two months earlier, at the 34th Session Human Rights Council (HRC), Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) had applauded the decision[…]

Sayed Alawi Husain: Case Study of an Enforced Disappearance in Bahrain

A case recently documented by ADHRB provides a particularly dramatic example of the Bahraini state’s practice of enforced disappearance, a compound form of human rights abuse that has become recurrent in recent years. Sayed Alawi Husain disappeared from his work on 24 October 2016, and his family soon learned that he had been detained by[…]