Shaikh Ali Salman, leader of Al-Wifaq, Bahrain’s largest but now forcibly dissolved opposition political society, is also serving a life term after the Court of Cassation upheld his sentence in January 2019 on trumped-up charges of allegedly spying for Qatar. They include Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, as well as Abduljalil al-Singace, a leader in the unrecognized opposition group Al Haq, both serving life terms. Thirteen prominent dissidents have been serving lengthy prison terms since their arrest in 2011 for their roles in pro-democracy demonstrations. The 2107 law allows courts to impose “alternative” sentences after a detainee serves half of their sentence, which Rajab completed on November 1, 2019. Rajab’s conviction arose from his 2015 tweets alleging torture in Jau Prison and criticizing Bahrain’s participation in the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen. On June 9, 2020, authorities released from prison prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab to serve the rest of his five-year sentence on speech charges under the alternative sanctions law. Freedom of Expression, Association, and Peaceful Assembly Oversight mechanisms are not independent of the government.īahrain continued to deny access to independent rights monitors and the UN special procedures, including the special rapporteur on torture. Although Bahrain released 1,486 prisoners in March due to the health risk posed by Covid-19, the releases have excluded opposition leaders, activists, journalists, and human rights defenders-many of whom are older and/or suffer from underlying medical conditions.Īuthorities failed to hold officials accountable for torture and ill-treatment. Health and hygiene conditions in Bahrain’s overcrowded prisons remain extremely serious. Nabeel Rajab, one of Bahrain’s most prominent human rights defenders, was released from prison on June 9 to serve the rest of his five-year sentence under the alternative sanctions law. All independent Bahraini media have been banned since 2017 from operating in the country and all opposition groups dissolved.
The government has put six people to death since it ended a moratorium on executions in 2017.Īuthorities arrested, prosecuted, and harassed human rights defenders, journalists, opposition leaders, and defense lawyers, including for their social media activity. There are 27 individuals currently on death row, of whom 25 are at imminent risk of execution. The human rights situation in Bahrain did not improve in 2020.
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