Profiles in Persecution: Zahra Salman Hasan (“Zahra AlShaikh”)

Zahra Salman Hasan, better known as Zahra AlShaikh, is a 28-year-old mother, human rights defender, and Bahraini citizen who fled her home country after enduring years of threats, harassment, imprisonment, and torture in relation to her activism. In 2012, Bahraini officers from the Special Security Force Command (SSFC) arrested Zahra during a peaceful sit-in and[…]

Profiles in Persecution: Osama Nezar AlSagheer

Osama Nezar AlSagheer is a 20-year-old Bahraini student who was most recently arrested in 2017 during the suppression of peaceful protests in Duraz, which concerned the denaturalization of Shia religious figure Sheikh Isa Qassim. The sit-in around Sheikh Isa Qassim’s home in Duraz began on 20 June 2016, and the Bahraini authorities’ violent dispersion of[…]

Special Procedures Sent Joint Communication to Saudi Arabia on Jamal Khashoggi

Throughout October 2018, United Nations (UN) Special Procedures sent three separate joint communications to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia expressing concerns over a myriad of human rights violations, ranging from the targeting of human rights defenders to extrajudicial executions for protest-related offenses committed by minors to arbitrary arrests and detentions. This blog series highlights these[…]

Profiles in Persecution: Ali Ateya Ali

Ali Ateya Ali was employed in a mosque before his arbitrary arrest this year. He was beaten by Special Security Force Command (SSFC) officers, and has been denied access to legal counsel during his trial. He also suffers from a medical condition and is not receiving adequate care while detained. On 14 August 2018, while[…]

Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Calls on Bahrain to Make Parliamentary Elections Free and Fair

06 November 2018 – Today, Representative Jim McGovern and Representative Randy Hultgren, the co-chairs of the Congressional Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, publicized a letter they sent last week asking Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to “take all necessary steps to ensure that the upcoming elections for the Council of Representatives of Bahrain’s[…]