October Champions for Justice: Teachers

Teachers have been at the forefront of Bahrain’s peaceful protests and democratic movement. They have also been amongst the harshest-treated victims of unfair trial and abuse. In 2011, the Bahrain Teacher’s Association (BTA) was a leading union calling for strike action in solidarity with the protests. The government subsequently dissolved the BTA and imprisoned its[…]

Flawed Justice: Assessing the Qatari Judiciary

In January 2014, Gabriela Knaul, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, visited Qatar upon the invitation of the government. During her visit, she met with senior officials at the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice, and Interior, as well as the Chief Justice of the Court of Cassation, in order to[…]

ADHRB Strongly Condemns the Arrest of Nasser bin Ghaith

25 August 2015 – Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) strongly condemns the arrest of Dr. Nasser bin Ghaith, an Emirati economics professor and prominent academic. UAE state security forces arrested bin Ghaith on 18 August, reportedly in relation to his recent tweets about Egypt. A week after the arrest, the government[…]

Stifled Verse: The Case of Mohammed al-Ajami

Since clinching its 2022 World Cup bid, Qatar has faced heightened international scrutiny. As workers have broken ground on elaborate new facilities for the tournament, human rights defenders have pointed to the country’s abusive kafala sponsorship system and the horrible conditions under which migrant laborers work. Yet Qatar engaged in human rights abuses long before its[…]

August Champions for Justice: Bahrain’s Student Prisoners

Since 2011, students and children in Bahrain have faced arbitrary charges and detention related to their freedoms of expression and assembly. Some have been arrested for participating in pro-democracy protests; others have been detained for apparently no reason at all. Bahraini authorities have treated preteen and teenage citizens as enemies, subjecting them to maltreatment, impeding[…]