Bahraini authorities sentence scholar and activist Khalil al-Halwachi to 10 years in prison

23 March 2017 – The Fifth High Criminal Court in Bahrain today sentenced scholar and activist Khalil al-Halwachi to 10 years in prison. The government arrested and charged al-Halwachi with possessing weapons in 2014; he has been in pre-trial detention since that time. In addition to weapons possession, the prosecution further charged al-Halwachi with “insulting[…]

Item 9 HRC34 Oral Intervention: Religious Discrimination in Bahrain

On 21 March 2017, Ebrahim Demestani delivered an oral intervention at the 34th session of the Human Rights Council under Item 9 and the Durban Declaration on behalf of Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain, the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. In his intervention, Demestani[…]

Bahrain: Political Opposition Leader Ebrahim Sharif Charged With “Inciting Hatred”

20 March 2017 – Political opposition leader Ebrahim Sharif was today charged with “inciting hatred against the regime” and against “factions of society” under articles 165 and 172 of Bahrain’s penal code for messages he wrote on social media. Sharif was previously imprisoned from 2011 to 2015, and then again from 2015 to 2016 on[…]

HRC34 Oral Intervention: Item 6 on Bahrain’s failure to implement its UPR recs

On 17 March 2017, Ebrahim Demistani delivered an oral intervention on behalf of ADHRB, BIRD, and BCHR at the 34th session of the Human Rights Council under Item 6. In his intervention, Demistani addressed Bahrain’s failure to implement even one of its 176 UPR recommendations in spirit and practice. Please continue reading for the full[…]

HRC34 Oral Interventions: Item #5 on Reprisals in Bahrain

On 17 March 2017, Ahmed Maki delivered an oral intervention at the 34th session of the Human Rights Council under Item 5. In his intervention, Ahmed addressed the trend of acts of reprisals against individuals engaging with the Human Rights Council, in particular Bahrain’s escalating reprisals against people engaging with the Council, beginning in 2014[…]