France plays a leading role in global arms exports. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), from before the Arab Spring protests in 2011 up until today, France has been in the top-5 of global arms exporters. In 2017, France took over China’s place as the third-largest arms exporter. The latest SIPRI report[…]
12
May
May
12 May 2020 – On Saturday, Bahrain’s government forced the cancellation of an online symposium featuring speakers opposed to the normalisation of diplomatic ties between the Gulf States and Israel. The online broadcast was suspended shortly after it began, following a call to event organisers by Bahrain’s Ministry of Labour and Social Development with orders[…]
06
May
May
The deputy of Coalició Compromís, MP Joan Baldoví, posed a series of questions to the government relating to the Spanish government’s view and intention regarding the Government of Bahrain’s record of human rights violations, requesting a written response. His questions queried the Spanish Government’s actions in relation to the plight of political prisoners, the precise[…]
05
May
May
With the hashtag #ReleasePoliticalPrisoners, students and activists all over Europe expressed their concern and demanded the immediate release of political prisoners in Bahrain. On March 17, 2020, Bahrain completed the release of 1,486 prisoners, 901 of whom received royal pardons on “humanitarian grounds.” The remaining 585 were given non-custodial sentences. While this is a positive[…]
04
May
May
Institutional Inadequacies In July 2011, the Bahraini government established the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), which was charged with investigating allegations of human rights abuses in connection with the government’s suppression of pro-democracy demonstrations that erupted in February 2011. Later that year, the BICI published a report which confirmed that government officials employed excessive[…]
