Bahrain Upholds 10-Year Sentence for Photojournalist Sayed Ahmed al-Mousawi in Further Attack on Press Freedom

On 27 March 2018, a Bahraini appellate court confirmed the 10-year prison sentence and arbitrary denaturalization of photojournalist Sayed Ahmed al-Mousawi. In 2017, Bahrain’s highest court reversed the original ruling, leading to the new appeal. Though al-Mousawi has the opportunity to petition the Court of Cassation again, he remains arbitrarily detained. Bahraini authorities first arrested[…]

Bahrain Again Postpones Qatar Trial of Sheikh Ali Salman and other Al-Wefaq Leaders

Today, 1 March 2018, the High Criminal Court again postponed the arbitrary new trial of Sheikh Ali Salman, Sheikh Hassan Ali Juma Sultan, and Ali Mehdi Ali Al Aswad – all leaders of the now-dissolved Al-Wefaq opposition group – over accusations that they conspired with Qatar to overthrow the Bahraini government in 2011. The court’s decision[…]

Swiss Journalists detained in the GCC

On Thursday 9 November, two journalists working for a Swiss news outlet were detained and forcibly disappeared in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Serge Enderlin and Jon Bjorgvinsson were in Abu Dhabi to cover the opening of the Louvre Abu Dhabi and interview the museum’s architect, Jean Nouvel. The pair claims that they were accredited[…]

HRC35 Item 3 Oral Intervention: Bahrain’s Restriction of Free Expression and Opinion

On 13 June 2017, Moritz Neubert delivered an oral intervention on behalf of ADHRB under the 35th session of the Human Rights Council’s Item 3 interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of expression and opinion. In his intervention, Neubert raised the issue of Bahrain’s restriction of free expression, including of[…]

Bahrain: Press Freedom Groups Call for Lifting of Al Wasat Suspension, As Newspaper’s Ban Continues

8 June 2017 – Top press freedom organizations and local Bahraini groups are among 15 rights groups and campaigners who today raised alarm over the suspension of Bahrain’s only independent newspaper, Al Wasat, which has been barred from publishing for four days now. The 15 rights groups and campaigners, which today wrote letters addressed to[…]