Film-maker Jen Marlowe’s newest documentary “Witness Bahrain” is screening publically for the first time on Sunday February 6. “Witness Bahrain” is an award-winning documentary that provides viewers a look into Bahrain during, and shortly after, the Arab Spring. While Marlowe was in Bahrain making the film, she uncovered stories of doctors arrested and tortured by Bahraini[…]
Today Human Rights Watch (HRW) released its World Report, an annual review of human rights around the globe. In it, HRW alleges that “credible and consistent allegations of torture and mistreatment of detainees in Bahrain during 2015 undermined claims of reform.” It describes a “range of torture methods, including electric shock, prolonged suspension in painful[…]
Earlier this month, Kuwait’s parliament passed two new laws increasing the government’s power to censor online media and restrict free expression. On 11 January 2016, lawmakers prescribed a jail term of up to ten years for any online “criticism of the government, religious figureheads or foreign leaders.” The next day, the parliament passed an additional law regulating[…]
On Sunday, Bahraini authorities questioned Sheikh Ali Salman over “violations” posted on his Twitter account, despite the fact that he remains imprisoned and unable to tweet. Sheikh Salman, the secretary-general of Bahraini opposition bloc al-Wefaq, is already serving a four-year prison term for inciting hatred, disturbing public peace, and inciting civil disobedience. Following the interrogation, Bahrain’s prosecutor stated he[…]
On Monday, 25 January 2016, Bahrain’s public prosecutor announced that a court had sentenced 57 men to additional 15-year jail terms for their alleged involvement in the Jau Prison riots last March. The prosecutor accused the men of having “unleashed acts of chaos, riots and rebellion inside (prison) buildings,” and officially charged them with a[…]