Profiles in Persecution: Mohamed Ahmed Abdulla Ali Abdulla Serhan

Mohamed Ahmed Abdulla Ali Abdulla Serhan was a 38 year-old teacher at the Ministry of Education in Bahrain when he was arrested in May 2013. Sentenced for 23 years, Mohamed was subjected to torture and enforced disappearance before he was unfairly tried on the basis of political charges. Mohamed is one of the five people[…]

Profiles in Persecution: Salman Ali Saleh

Salman Ali Saleh was 24 years old when Bahraini authorities arrested him in November 2015. Salman was tortured after he was arrested for alleged possession of explosive materials and collaboration with a terrorist cell. He was also accused of cooperating with wanted persons abroad, though his passport had expired four years prior to his arrest.[…]

Profiles in Persecution: Ali Hammad Ali Hammad Ahmed

Ali was deprived from completing his last high school year in the Industrial School in AL-Muharraq, and from playing his favorite game and hobby “Handball”. In 2015, Ali was arrested without a warrant. He endured many human rights violations; he was interrogated without a lawyer, convicted in an unfair trial, and was subjected to torture[…]

Dispatch: The Failure of French Ambassadors to Support Human Rights Defenders

 In a year of political turmoil for the European Union, as well as countries near and abroad, France continues to project its image as a leader of humanitarian values and a proponent of “liberté, égalité, fraternité.” However, our research over the previous months has evidenced that liberty, equality, and fraternity are far from the French[…]

Ambassador Siberell: “Is No Friend to Human Rights”

 United States Ambassador Justin Hicks Siberell is a career diplomat and counterterrorism expert who is ending his nearly three-year posting in Manama, Bahrain. Before his ambassadorship, he served in missions in five countries across three continents and served as acting Counterterrorism Coordinator for the State Department. Far from a political appointee, Ambassador Siberell is an[…]