Mohammad al Qahtani is a former economics professor and one of the principal visionaries behind the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Associations (ACPRA). On 9 March 2013, a Riyadh criminal court sentenced him and fellow ACPRA co-founder, Abdullah al-Hamid, to ten and eleven years in prison respectively. Al-Qahtani’s sentencing and imprisonment is the result of[…]
16 November 2016 – In the past few days, the Bahraini authorities have summoned at least 26 activists and human rights defenders for interrogations over charges of illegal gathering, including members of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR). The undersigned NGOs are deeply concerned about this sudden wave of reprisals against opposition voices and[…]
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[…]
On 13 June 2016, the Government of Bahrain arrested prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab from his home. The Government did not initially justify the arrest, but later stated that he had committed crimes against the Bahraini State in making statements over Twitter. Mr. Rajab has been incarcerated initially in East Riffa Police Station and[…]
The Government of Bahrain has increasingly used travel bans to prevent human rights defenders and activists from travelling abroad. In its ongoing suppression of dissent and political criticism, it has engaged in reprisals against human rights defenders and activists, in particular by preventing them from advocating at the United Nations (UN) or speaking at international[…]