Bahrain Restores Law Enforcement Powers to NSA, Reversing BICI Recommendation

5 January 2017 – Bahrain today restored law enforcement abilities to its National Security Agency (NSA), an institution which oversaw torture of protesters in 2011. The move reverses one of the few post-Arab Spring reforms outlined in the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI). The reversal comes after an escalated human rights crisis in 2016,[…]

Saudi’s Gulf Policies Inform Bahrain’s Techniques of Repression

As the largest country economically and the most populous state in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Saudi Arabia’s policies significantly affect the policies of its neighbors. Since the 2011 Arab Spring popular protests around the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Saudi Arabia has used its influence to lead the counterrevolutionary charge, and worked assiduously[…]

Bahrain’s prosecution orders further pretrial detention of Nabeel Rajab over politically-motivated charges

UPDATE: 5 January 2017 – Bahrain’s Public Prosecution Office (PPO) has extended Nabeel Rajab’s pretrial detention period by 15 days on allegations of “spreading rumours and false information,” according to the human rights defender’s lawyer. These charges stem from television interviews Rajab gave in 2014 and 2015. 29 December 2016 – The public prosecution in Bahrain today[…]

Bahrain’s Prosecution Detains Nabeel Rajab Despite Court-Ordered Release

28 December 2016 – A Bahraini court earlier today ordered the provisional release of human rights defender Nabeel Rajab on bail. However, the Public Prosecution subsequently ordered his continued detention for seven days, citing further investigation into another case in which Rajab is accused of “spreading false news,” likely to be related to letters published[…]

Bahraini Authorities refer Nabeel Rajab to Prosecution for Letter Published in Le Monde

21 December 2016 – Bahraini authorities have today interrogated imprisoned human rights defender Nabeel Rajab on allegations stemming from a letter he recently published in the French newspaper Le Monde. The undersigned NGOs condemn in the strongest possible terms any further legal action against Rajab for exercising his fundamental right to free expression and call[…]