Bahrain NGOs Respond to Government High Level HRC Statement

March 2016 – Geneva, Switzerland – Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB), the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), the European Center for Democracy and Human Rights (ECDHR), and Justice Human Rights Organization (JHRO) would like to take this opportunity to respond to the[…]

UAE’s New Ministry of Happiness: A Distraction from Repression?

On 8 February 2016, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced that it would be forming new ministries of “happiness” and “tolerance.” While the UAE is not the first country to establish such positions—commentators note that the move is reminiscent of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Index, installed in 1972, as well as other more recent trends—it remains[…]

Egyptian Detainee Details Torture in the UAE

Mosaab Abd al-Aziz, the son of a former advisor to Egypt’s deposed president Muhammad Morsi, has sent a taped message to his family alleging that UAE authorities tortured him in order to coerce him into confessing membership in the Muslim Brotherhood. UAE police arrested Abd al-Aziz in October 2014 and they have held him in[…]

UN Experts Condemn Detention and Trial of Foreign Nationals in the UAE

A panel of UN experts has called for the release of several Libyan nationals currently on trial in the UAE, including Mohamed al-Darat, Kamal al-Darat, and Salim al-Aradi. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary detention has confirmed that the men are being held arbitrarily, and the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture has cited credible evidence[…]

ADHRB and 12 NGOs Demand Release of Ali al-Nimr

Marking the fourth anniversary of Ali al-Nimr’s arrest, Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain and 12 other NGOs demand that Saudi Arabia repeal the death penalty against Ali al-Nimr and all other protesters who were arrested as minors, including Dawood Hussein al-Marhoon and Abdullah Hasan al-Zaher. Saudi security forces arrested Ali al-Nimr on 14 February[…]