Prisoner Profile: The Suwaidi Sisters

After posting a tweet that said “I miss my brother,” UAE security forces summoned Asma Khalifa al-Suwaidi and her two sisters to a police station on 15 February 2015. They were not seen or heard from for three months. Prior to their disappearance, the sisters peacefully campaigned on Twitter for the release of their brother,[…]

UN Body Declares Sheikh Ali Salman Arbitrarily Detained

5 November 2015 – Geneva, Switzerland – The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has officially declared Sheikh Ali Salman, the prominent leader of Bahrain’s opposition party al-Wefaq, to be arbitrarily detained by the Bahraini government. The decision, which cites both free expression and due process concerns, requests that the Bahraini government release[…]

Prisoner Profile: Online Activist Osama al-Najjar

On 17 March 2014, UAE security forces violently arrested Osama al-Najjar after he tweeted a response to remarks made by the Ruler of Sharjah in a radio interview. During the interview, the ruler stated that families of the UAE 94, a group of political prisoners tried en masse in 2013, should not fill their children[…]

Prisoner Profile: Kamal and Mohammed al-Darat

Emirati security forces have been holding Libyan-American citizens Kamal and Mohammed al-Darat in detention for over a year without charge. Authorities detained the al-Darats in August 2014 along with eight others whom UAE authorities suspected to be tied to the Muslim Brotherhood, a designated terrorist organization in the UAE. Members of the al-Darat family state[…]

UN Experts Condemn Detention of Qatari Poet

20 October 2015 – Today, United Nations human rights experts called for the release of the Qatari poet Mohammed al-Ajami on the second anniversary of his prison sentencing. Al-Ajami is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence in Doha for the contents of his poetry. Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) welcomes the[…]