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[…]

The Trial of the 94

Although the UAE is rarely mentioned in relation to the Arab Spring, Emiratis did not remain silent in 2011. A group of activists petitioned the president to call for democracy, an elected parliamentary body, and legislative powers for the Federal National Council. A majority of the petitioners belonged to an Islamist organization called al-Islah, which[…]

ADHRB Welcomes Senate Bill to Reinstate US Arms Exports Ban on Bahrain

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 7 August 2015 Washington, DC – Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) welcomes yesterday’s introduction of S.2009, the bipartisan resolution in the United States Senate that would reinstate the ban on certain US arms sales to Bahrain until the country implements all 26 recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI). We strongly support[…]

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[…]

NGOs Voice Concern Over Sitra Arbitrary Arrest Campaign Following Last Week’s Bombing

5 August 2015 – Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB), Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) are extremely concerned over the escalated measures and collective punishment the authorities have subjected the people of Sitra to in the aftermath of the bombing incident. On[…]