Within its Country Report on Terrorism in Middle East and North Africa, the U.S. Department of State assesses the counterterror measures undertaken by Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in 2014. Key among these measures is the implementation of anti-terrorism laws intended to better facilitate the prosecution of terror offenses. In both countries, these laws have given[…]
19
Jun
Jun
Once again, the Bahrain Office of the Ombudsman has released its Second Annual Report on the progress of their complaint program and the state of prisoner and detainee treatment. Like the first report, the statistics on the number of complaints, deaths, and investigations are inconsistent with independently documented numbers, and do not accurately portray the[…]
16
Jun
Jun
In a limited sign of progress for women’s rights, admittedly rare for patriarchal Saudi Arabia, the passport department within the Saudi Ministry of Interior is drafting regulations that would allow Saudi women greater freedoms to travel without the immediate consent of a male guardian. The new rules challenge current Saudi codes prohibiting women under the[…]
12
May
May
In the wake of his government’s assault on peaceful protests in 2011, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa of Bahrain proposed the Arab Court on Human Rights. As an ostensible effort to demonstrate his commitment to civil and political reform during the pro-democracy uprising, his announcement should have drawn praise from an international community eager to[…]
