Working Group on Arbitrary Detention: Bahraini imprisoned for reciting a prayer was arbitrarily deprived of liberty

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) published an Opinion on its website formed on 15 July 2022 concerning AbdulNabi AbdulHasan Ebrhaim Khalil, a 50-year-old Bahraini citizen from Hamad Town who recites prayers during religious occasions as a Maddah at Ma’tam AlSammakeen. He was sentenced to a year in prison for reciting Ziyarat[…]

UN WGAD warns that Systemic Deprivation of Liberty in Bahrain may constitute Crimes against Humanity

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) published on its website their Opinion from 20 July 2022 concerning five young Bahraini citizens sentenced in an unfair mass trial known as the Soleimani Cell Case. The Working Group found that the individuals were arbitrarily arrested in violation of international human rights law. These five[…]

Self-inflicted wounds: Courting the good-will of Middle East dictators

News that President Biden is traveling to the Gulf region this month to meet with the rulers of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is a betrayal of his promise to put “human rights at the center of our foreign policy, of the pro-democracy activists and journalists who have[…]

The self-respect of democracy

Read anything said about democracy and America by President Kennedy and President Reagan; read anything about Saudi Arabia’s bloody record of its repression of democracy and human rights; then try not to feel embarrassed and angry by the news that the President of the United States is travelling to Saudi Arabia to kiss the ring[…]

ADHRB urges the Saudi King to Annul the Death Sentences of Jaafar Sultan and Sadeq Thamer

Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) calls on the King of Saudi Arabia to halt the imminent execution of Bahraini citizens, Jaafar Mohamed Sultan and Sadeq Majeed Thamer, whose death sentences were upheld by the Saudi Supreme Court on 6 April 2022, by annulling their sentences. They have exhausted all legal remedies,[…]