Bahraini Opposition Leader Sheikh Ali Salman Could Face Death Penalty as Qatar Trial is Set to Conclude on 21 June

Bahraini Public Prosecution Advocate General Osama al-Oufi announced on 24 April 2018 that the High Criminal Court had adjourned the new trial of imprisoned opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman and his two in absentia codefendants, Sheikh Hassan Ali Juma Sultan and Ali Mehdi Ali Al Aswad, until 21 June. The court is expected to issue[…]

Bahrain Continues Arbitrary Imprisonment of Taiba Darwish Despite Reduced Sentence

**Update: Bahraini political prisoner Taiba Darwish completed her reduced three-year sentence and was released from Isa Town Women’s Prison on Monday, 14 May 2018. On 18 April 2018, a Bahraini appeals court reduced the sentence against political prisoner Taiba Darwish from five to three years in prison. Darwish was arbitrarily imprisoned in 2016 in reprisal[…]

Yemen Three Years Later

Three years after Ali Abdullah Saleh transferred power to Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, the civil war in Yemen shows no sign of abating, with Houthi militias and the Hadi government locked in combat. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and its coalition continue to jockey with Iran for influence, only intensifying the violence. With no end in sight, the death toll in[…]

Bahrain denies Danish MP and Human Rights Activist Entry to Celebrate Abdulhadi al-Khawaja’s 57th Birthday

On 3 April, Danish MP Lars Aslan Rasmussen and the Director of the Human Rights Defender program for Human Rights First (HRF) and advisor at Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), Brian Dooley, attempted to visit Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a prominent jailed Bahraini human rights activist, to celebrate al-Khawaja’s 57th birthday on 5 April. The pair[…]

Bahrain’s Highest Military Court to Render Verdict in Civilian Case on 25 April

Bahrain’s highest military court has again adjourned the appeal of seven men – one soldier and six civilians – convicted for the alleged “formation of a terrorist cell and committing several terrorist crimes” after an unfair trial marred by reports of torture, enforced disappearance and other due process violations. The Military Court of Cassation announced[…]