Independent and Impartial Investigation Needed into the Death and Alleged Torture of Detainee

The undersigned NGOs call on the government of Bahrain to immediately launch an independent and impartial investigation into the death of 35-year-old detainee Hassan Jassim Hasan Al-Hayki amid credible allegations of torture. Officials must prosecute and hold accountable anyone found to have caused or contributed to Mr. Al-Hayki’s death. These torture allegations also raise further[…]

Dispatch: Fact vs. Myth – Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI)

The Government of Bahrain established the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) in July 2011, following the repression of the pro-democracy movement in February of that year. The BICI commission consisted of a panel of international human rights experts who set out to analyze Bahraini authorities’ violations during the pro-democracy movement. The BICI commission then[…]

#BahrainSpeaks: Voices from the Ground, part 1

Since the 2011 Bahraini uprisings, there has been a severe crackdown from the government on the civil liberties of the country’s citizens. Years of mass incarceration, torturing political prisoners, and repressing the freedoms of speech and assembly have finally culminated in some of the largest protests seen since 2011. The June 2016 arrest and detention[…]

Nabeel Rajab: a Lifelong Human Rights Defender

On 13 June 2016, Bahraini authorities arrested Nabeel Rajab on grounds that he spread “false news and rumors about the internal situation in a bid to discredit Bahrain.” This arrest is the government’s latest attempt to stifle Rajab’s human rights activism. Despite its multiple attempts to jail Rajab and extinguish his activism, the Government of[…]

Bahrain Continues to Target Free Speech by Arresting Poet

On 23 July 2016, Bahraini authorities arrested Khalil al-Ismael as he was leaving the village of Diraz, where many Bahrainis are protesting the government’s revocation of Sheikh Isa Qassim’s Bahraini citizenship. Bahraini authorities charged Ismael with attending an “illegal demonstration” and reading a “political poem” out loud. Al-Ismael’s lawyer Mohammed al-Tajer, who himself is under[…]