On 8 February 2016, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced that it would be forming new ministries of “happiness” and “tolerance.” While the UAE is not the first country to establish such positions—commentators note that the move is reminiscent of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Index, installed in 1972, as well as other more recent trends—it remains[…]
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24 February 2016 – Bahrain’s fourth criminal court today sentenced leading opposition leader Ebrahim Sharif to one year in prison for allegedly “inciting hatred against the regime”. We, the undersigned NGOs, strongly condemn the sentencing of Ebrahim Sharif today, which represents yet another example of Bahrain’s criminalization of free speech. We call for Sharif’s unconditional[…]
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Bahrain State Department Commemorates 5th Anniversary by Calling for More Reforms On 17 February, the US Department of State (DoS) issued a statement commemorating the fifth anniversary of Bahrain’s pro-democracy uprising in 2011. The statement highlights ongoing US concerns regarding “limitations on peaceful assembly, political activism, and the criminalization of freedom of expression” since the[…]
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22 February 2016 – The Bahraini authorities deported Sheikh Mohammed Hasan Ali Husain (Khojasta) following the court of appeal’s decision. Sheikh Khojasta is one of the more than 100 Bahrainis whose citizenship was revoked by a Ministry of Interior’s’ administrative decision. The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), the European Centre for Democracy and Human[…]
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Voices from the Ground: February 14th As part of ADHRB’s Voices from the Ground interview series, we spoke with Bahraini human rights activists about their experiences during the country’s peaceful uprising and the historical significance of the protests at the Pearl Roundabout. According to one activist, the protests represented “a quantum leap for Bahrain. Following 14[…]
