Today the U.S. Commission in International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its 2014 Annual Report, and highlighted Bahrain as a country that should be the “focus of concern.” The section on Bahrain confirmed what many international organizations have been saying since the Bahraini government’s acceptance of the 2011 Bahrain Independent Commission of inquiry (BICI): that a[…]
25
Apr
Apr
The United Nations (U.N.) Office at Geneva released a statement yesterday from Heiner Bielefeldt, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, urging the Government of Bahrain to end its persecution and harassment of senior religious leader, Hussain al-Najati, and expressing grave concerns at this religiously motivated discrimination against the cleric. The Special Rapporteurs[…]
28
Mar
Mar
President Obama traveled to Riyadh today to meet with King Abdullah seeking a “rapprochement with an aggrieved Arab ally whose interests are increasingly at odds with its key western backer.” Initial reports from the bilateral discussions largely focus on mending U.S. and Saudi disagreements over Syria and Iran. Notably lacking from the conversation is any[…]
28
Mar
Mar
Today the State Department’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a new report on the Embassy in Manama, Bahrain. The report, which is the result of an inspection that took place in September and October of last year, provides critical insight into the workings of the Embassy in Manama and serves to underscore the[…]
20
Mar
Mar
On 28 February 2014, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Status of Human Rights Defenders, Margaret Sekaggya, released commentary on joint communications between United Nations Special Procedures and countries of concern. In her report, Rapporteur Sekaggya devoted 13 paragraphs to addressing concerns regarding human rights defenders in Bahrain, placing Bahrain in the top ten[…]
