UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Opinion: 20 Bahrainis are Arbitrary Detained as part of “Zulfiqar trial”

  The United Nations (UN) Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) published an opinion concerning the cases of 20 Bahraini citizens convicted by the Bahraini Fourth High Criminal Court on 15 May 2018, following a mass trial involving 138 defendants. These 138 defendants were convicted for their alleged involvement in a terrorist cell, called the[…]

Dispatch: How the US Arms Export Industry Sustain Human Rights Violators in the Yemen War

The report Trends in International Arms Transfers by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has confirmed The United States’ first position in the top 5 largest worldwide arms exporters for several years now. The period from 2015 to 2019 has demonstrated a crucial time for the US to re-establish their commercial supremacy in the[…]

Building Secret State Surveillance Systems: How the Export of European Spyware Facilitates Human Rights Violations in Gulf States

The Danish government has traditionally been a vocal supporter for human rights. For example, the Government of Denmark was one of the signatories of a Human Rights Council Joint Statement on Saudi Arabia that expressed its concern regarding the murder and torture of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Despite their good reputation, the Danish government has on[…]

Profiles in Persecution: Ali Husain Maki

Ali was a 18-year-old student in Tubli when he was arrested for the second time on 15 January 2019. Ali was violently arrested at his grandfather’s house, beaten and threatened by the authorities. He has since been subjected to two weeks of torture, as well as an unfair trial. Ali remains imprisoned in the New[…]

The Portuguese Left Bloc in Parliament Condemns the Ongoing Arbitrary Arrest of Women’s Rights Activists in Saudi Arabia

On May 21, the Bloco de Esquerda (The Left Bloc) passed a “condemning vote” in parliament related to the Saudi Women Human Rights Defender’s Arrest. The instrument specifically details the ordeal of Samar Badawi, Nassima Al-Sadah and Loujain Alhathoul who were arbitrarily arrested, detained and sentenced in manner that were in breach of a number[…]