Three torture victims facing imminent threat of execution at any time

14 January 2017 – The Government of Bahrain today has taken concerning action regarding the three torture victims on death row – Sami Mushaima, Abbas al-Samea, and Ali Abdulshaheed al-Singace. Reports indicate that Bahraini authorities have called a surprise mandatory visit for the families to meet with the three detainees. According to some reports from[…]

US dual citizen serving two-year prison sentence in Bahrain

**Update: A Bahraini court of appeals upheld the two-year sentence against Abdulla Jaffar on 23 January 2017, exhausting his appeals process. ____________ 13 January 2016 – The Government of Bahrain has taken 19-year-old Virginia-born Bahraini-American citizen Abdulla Jaffar into custody. This arrest is meant to begin an arbitrary prison sentence passed against Jaffar almost two[…]

Bahrain’s Recent Attacks on Press Freedom

Update: After this post was published, Bahrain’s Ministry of Information Affairs has partially suspended on 16 January 2017 Alwasat, the country’s only independent newspaper. See here for more details.  On 16 January 2017, Bahrain’s prosecution will try the case of journalist Nazeeha Saeed, whom the Public Prosecution Office charged with working for international media without a[…]

Prisoner Profile: Khalil al-Halwachi

Following yet another postponement in the final days of 2016, the trial of Bahraini scholar and activist Khalil al-Halwachi is now set to enter its twenty-third session on 22 January 2017. He is being tried along with 16 others and has been detained by Bahraini authorities for over two years without being sentenced, in clear[…]

Bahrain Court of Cassation upholds death sentence against 3 torture victims

9 January 2017 – The Court of Cassation in Bahrain today upheld the death sentence against three defendants, life imprisonment against seven other defendants, and revocation of citizenship for eight of these ten defendants. They were convicted of killing three policemen in a bombing incident on 3 March 2014. We, the undersigned, condemn this sentence[…]