Using her Twitter handle, @angryarabiya, Zainab al-Khawaja amassed nearly 50,000 followers and became a prominent voice of the 2011 pro-democracy movement in Bahrain. She, along with fellow human rights defenders, provided on-the-ground updates on protests and demonstrations via her Twitter page. Her cyberactivism helped bring greater international attention to the human rights abuses committed by the Government[…]
In efforts to dispel any criticism towards the Saudi-led coalition’s actions in Yemen, Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior (MOI) warned in 2015 that it would take steps against anyone expressing opinions “against the approach that Bahrain has taken.” Bahraini authorities acted on the warning when they arrested and imprisoned political leader Fadhel Abbas for posting on[…]
Emirati economist Dr. Nasser Bin Ghaith has over 36,000 Twitter followers, none of whom have seen a post from him since 17 August 2015 – the last day he was a free man. On 18 August, security forces in civilian clothing arrested the prominent academic. Emirati security forces held Dr. Bin Ghaith incommunicado for eight[…]
On 13 June 2016, Bahraini forces surrounded the house of human rights defender Nabeel Rajab and arrested him. At the time of his arrest, authorities had not yet informed Rajab, his family, or his legal team the reason for detaining him. However, the government has since issued charges against Rajab that accuse him of[…]