20 October 2026
Thirty-two human rights organisations, including the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), Human Rights Watch and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), have written to French President Emmanuel Macron ahead of his visit to Bahrain, urging him to prioritise human rights in his discussions with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.
Macron’s visit forms part of a Gulf tour from 19 to 21 October, encompassing Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar. Despite ongoing unrest in France, Macron landed in Bahrain this afternoon, where he was welcomed by King Hamad and his sons.
Video footage of Macron’s arrival: Associated Press (AP).
In their joint letter, dated 16 October, the organisations warn that Bahrain is experiencing its most severe crackdown on dissent since 2011 and that closer political and security cooperation with France risks emboldening the Bahraini authorities.
The letter documents more than 700 arrests since the outbreak of the war between Iran, the United States and Israel. It also details the revocation of citizenship of 69 Bahrainis, including 33 children, the youngest of whom was just 19 days old at the time. It raises concerns about the mass prosecution of 69 defendants, including 46 detained Shia clerics, amid allegations of torture, coerced confessions and serious violations of fair trial rights.
It also highlights the death in custody of 32-year-old Sayed Mohamed Al-Mousawi, whose body was returned to his family bearing visible signs of torture, and the plight of 19 prisoners facing the death penalty, 18 of whom have exhausted their legal remedies.
The organisations demand the immediate and unconditional release of political prisoners, including Danish-Bahraini human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, Swedish-Bahraini dissident Sheikh Mohammed Habib Al-Muqdad, opposition leader Hassan Mushaima and academic Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace, all imprisoned for more than 15 years. Dr Al-Singace has been on a liquid-only hunger strike for over five years.
The organisations warn that unless Macron makes concrete demands for human rights improvements, including the release of political prisoners, his visit “risks legitimising Bahrain’s repression and sending a dangerous message to its rulers that they can continue imprisoning critics, persecuting religious leaders and stripping children of their citizenship without facing any consequences to their relations with France.”
Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Advocacy Director at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), said:
“Since the outbreak of the Iran war, repression in Bahrain has intensified sharply. Bahrain’s ruler is jailing critics, stripping children of their citizenship and presiding over widespread torture. Thirty-two-year-old Sayed Mohamed Al-Mousawi was tortured to death in custody. Macron must raise these abuses publicly or risk legitimising this brutal repression.
France must not sacrifice human rights for lucrative Gulf deals under the guise of regional security. Bahrain must not be allowed to buy France’s silence. Those responsible for serious human rights abuses must face consequences, not rewards from France.”
Antoine Madelin, FIDH Advocacy Director, stated:
“The current crisis should remind President Macron that lasting energy security depends on respect for human rights and peace. France must look beyond immediate supplies and support the open, democratic societies on which a stable future depends. Bahrain’s diverse and plural society deserves that support. Macron must speak out against the repression that is closing civic space and press for the release of those imprisoned for exercising their rights. Seeking Bahrain’s support makes defending these freedoms more urgent, not less.”
The organisations urge Macron to press Bahrain to release political prisoners, end the mass prosecution of Shia clerics, restore citizenship to those stripped of it, and establish an immediate moratorium on executions. They also call for human rights safeguards on French security assistance and independent assessments before concluding agreements with Bahrain.
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]]>The hearing today will focus on Interpol’s assertion that it has immunity from this claim. It follows a series of written pleadings which have been filed by the parties. This is one of the first times that a French court will rule on Interpol’s asserted immunity from legal action seeking compensation in France in respect of Red Notices. The Lyon Court’s ruling will be a landmark decision.
The case comes before a French court at a time when INTERPOL is presided over by Lucas Philippe, a senior French National Police officer, who was elected President of the organisation in November 2025 for a four-year term. The hearing also takes place amid growing documentation of the misuse of Red Notices by States to pursue political opponents, human rights defenders and journalists abroad, including investigations by the French outlet Disclose and the BBC Eye.
Timeline of key events:
Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed Ali took part in Bahrain’s 2011 popular uprising against the national authorities. He was later convicted in absentia on fabricated terrorism-related charges and sentenced to life imprisonment. This conviction formed the basis of the INTERPOL Red Notice that led to his arrest in Serbia 3 November 2021 and subsequent extradition on 24 January 2022. In a separate case, he received another life sentence on 26 February 2015. This case involved the murder of three police officers, including an Emirati officer, an offence that took place while he was not even in the country. The same proceedings resulted in the executions of three individuals convicted in the case. UN experts have condemned these ‘arbitrary executions’, with the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions declared these executions to be ‘extrajudicial killings’ in a European Parliament resolution denouncing the executions.
On 3 November 2021, he was arrested in Belgrade pursuant to an Interpol Red Notice, which Bahrain had requested on the basis of these unlawful convictions, and placed in extradition detention. While in detention, he applied for political asylum in Serbia, however his application was rejected. On 18 January 2022, the Serbian courts ruled that the conditions for extradition were met, and the Serbian Ministry of Justice signed an extradition decree.
Facing imminent extradition to Bahrain, where he was a targeted opponent and at risk of torture, he lodged an urgent application with the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) under Rule 39 of the Rules of the Court. On 21 January 2022, the ECtHR issued an interim measure ordering the Serbian government not to extradite him. Despite this and in flagrant breach of the Court’s order, Serbia extradited him to Bahrain on 24 January 2022 and he was flown to Bahrain on a UAE charter operator, RoyalJet.
On 29 January 2022, the Bahrain News Agency confirmed his return to the Kingdom to serve his sentence, stating that the extradition had taken place “with the assistance of INTERPOL”.
In a judgment delivered on 25 March 2025 (Ali v. Serbia, no. 4662/22), the ECtHR found that Serbia had violated Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, by failing to properly examine his claim that he faced a risk of ill-treatment in Bahrain before extraditing him.
On 15 September 2026, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe called on Serbia to take the necessary measures, including diplomatic steps, to obtain information from the Bahraini authorities about his current situation and to ensure that his rights under Article 3 are effectively protected.
UN experts have previously raised serious concerns about Jau Prison and urged Bahrain to ensure that prisoners are treated humanely and with dignity and to avoid life-threatening consequences. In brief telephone calls with relatives Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed Ali has repeatedly described conditions that amount to torture including being assaulted and mistreated; overcrowded cells where inmates sleep on the floor; alternating repeated periods of solitary confinement; and a ban on written correspondence. Since his extradition in January 2022, he has been allowed only one family visit.
The claim before the Tribunal judiciaire de Lyon argues that, by issuing this Red Notice, INTERPOL violated its own Constitution and committed a fault that engages its civil liability. As with any legal entity operating on French territory, there must be a remedy against INTERPOL when its wrongful actions cause harm to a third party.
Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed Ali suffered considerable harm as a result of the publication of the Red Notice, and is seeking compensation for:
INTERPOL argues that it enjoys immunity from legal proceedings. However, Mr Ali submits in this claim, inter alia, that an international organisation’s immunity must be set aside where it does not provide an effective alternative remedy. In practice, there is no such remedy: people targeted by Red Notices issued in breach of INTERPOL’s rules have no means of obtaining compensation for the harm caused.
Earlier this month, Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed Ali spoke by telephone with Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Director of Advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), who has been assisting him during his imprisonment. He said: “I suffered torture and I have been sentenced to life imprisonment on the basis of fabricated charges. I hold INTERPOL responsible for facilitating my extradition from Serbia to Bahrain and for my unimaginable suffering since being extradited.”
Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, who advocates for the release of political prisoners and conducts international advocacy initiatives, said: “INTERPOL has destroyed Ahmed Jaafar’s life and devastated his family. He is now languishing in Bahrain’s notorious Jau Prison, enduring appalling conditions that no human being should ever be subjected to. He has also been repeatedly assaulted by prison officials and criminal inmates, putting his life at risk. INTERPOL must face the consequences of its actions. No organisation should be allowed to hide behind immunity after facilitating a political prisoner’s unlawful extradition, exposing him to torture and imprisonment for the rest of his life”.
UPDATE: A hearing took place today, 13 October, before the Lyon Court in France in a civil claim brought against INTERPOL by Bahraini political prisoner Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed Ali.
The court is expected to deliver its judgment on 31 December 2026 on the preliminary question of whether INTERPOL enjoys immunity from legal proceedings in this case.
]]>(Beirut) – Bahraini authorities have rearrested at least nine men who had previously been released from prison by royal pardon, the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) and Human Rights Watch said today.
The men, who were previously detained on politically motivated charges, were arrested in July and August 2026 for allegedly failing to pay fines dating back a decade. Bahraini authorities should immediately release them and cease all efforts to collect the dubious unpaid fines.
“King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa’s decision to pardon over 3,000 prisoners in the last two years earned immense praise from the international community, but these new arrests call into question whether the pardons were genuine,” said Niku Jafarnia, Bahrain and Yemen researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Those who praised the pardons should call on Bahrain to stop rearresting people and release those again detained.”
BIRD and Human Rights Watch spoke to three people, including Naji Fateel, a prominent Bahraini human rights defender who was among the nine rearrested and who spoke from detention. They also spoke to Mustafa al-Jamri and Hassan Burwase, who have not yet been rearrested, but who said the authorities were trying to detain them.
The arrests are happening against the backdrop of one of the biggest crackdowns by Bahrain’s authorities on freedom of expression and assembly since the widespread arrests following the 2011 pro-democracy protests. Since March, authorities have arrested over 600 people on various charges, including “supporting and endorsing a state hostile to Bahrain” and espionage, and at least 69 people of Iranian descent have been stripped of their Bahrain nationality, including many children.
Those interviewed said the issue was alleged unpaid fines imposed on them and 48 others accused of causing damage during a major protest in Jau Prison in 2015. Human Rights Watch and BIRD have documented that the authorities imposed physical and psychological abuse on the protesters and denied them needed medical care.
In 2016, the authorities added 15 years to their sentences and fined them a total of 507,187.97 Bahraini Dinars (approximately US$1.35 million), for offenses including damaging public property, attacking police, arson, and resisting authorities. At the time, BIRD, along with several other human rights organizations, called into question the convictions, saying the Bahraini government had sentenced 57 people to lengthy prison terms amid allegations of abuse, torture, and due process violations, and called on security officials involved in the abuse to be held accountable.
The 2024 royal pardons included 33 of those men. All three men interviewed said that their understanding was that the royal pardon also included the charges and fines imposed under the 2016 sentence following the protests. However, in early June, the authorities contacted many of the men to say that they had to pay fines without specifying what the fines were in relation to or how much they should pay.
Al-Jamri said that a security official who called him simply said that he had “amounts of money due.” When he asked for clarification, the man said there were “amounts due related to the case,” without any details, and he was told to go to a police station in Manama, the capital.
“I was surprised,” al-Jamri said. “What are these amounts? I mean, I hadn’t had any problems; there was nothing against me. I was approaching two years [since my release].”
Burwase said the papers linked with his and the rest of the men’s pardons indicated that they had been cleared of “everything, completely,” and that the authorities had also issued him a “good conduct certificate,” meaning there were no outstanding cases against him.
On June 16, after hearing from the authorities, 14 of the pardoned men, including the 3 interviewed, wrote to the crown prince, stating their belief that the royal pardon had “brought to an end all consequences arising from the judgments,” including the financial penalties. “This understanding was reinforced by the official measures that followed the pardon and were intended to reintegrate us into society, including government directives to provide training and employment opportunities to those covered by the pardon.”
In the letter, the men asked the authorities to recognize the effect of the pardon on the outstanding penalties, halt enforcement measures that could result in their return to prison, clarify their legal position, and ensure that those released under the pardon were not imprisoned simply because they could not afford to pay any outstanding fines.
The men received no response. But in July and August, the authorities arrested 8 of the 33 convicted in 2016 and pardoned in 2024. Among them, three were signatories to the letter.
Fateel said that on August 16, officials contacted him regarding the fine. He had asked them to provide documentation establishing the amount to be paid and whether he should go to the police station to discuss the matter. He said that the officials had told him to instead contact the public prosecution and the sentence enforcement judge, who oversees sentencing for convicted individuals.
He said that plainclothes officers awakened him at approximately 5:45 a.m. on August 18, banging loudly on his bedroom door. He said they immediately arrested him and took him away without explaining the reason for his arrest or presenting a warrant. He said that when they were headed to the East Riffa Police Station, an officer told him that he had been arrested because of “a fine.”
In 2022, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found Fateel’s original detention arbitrary and therefore unlawful, concluding that the proceedings involved serious violations of international fair-trial standards. They called for his immediate and unconditional release. The findings covered the Jau Prison case now being used by authorities to rearrest him. By the time he was finally released in 2024, Fateel had spent 11 years in arbitrary detention.
Fateel, along with many others who had been pardoned, now faces imprisonment again for fines that he should not in fact be liable for and cannot afford, the groups said.
Regarding the exorbitant amount of the fine, al-Jamri said: “It would be difficult for anyone in Bahrain to pay, whether they had a case against them or not. A salary in Bahrain might be 350 dinars [a month], yet you’re asking me to pay installments of 375 dinars [every month] for two years.”
As of October 5, Bahraini authorities have continued to pursue arrests for others from the 33 people convicted in 2016 and released in 2024, based on reports from some of those who authorities have contacted.
“Bahrain’s government is going after former political prisoners released by royal pardon, giving them a difficult choice: pay huge fines or go back to prison,” said Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, advocacy director at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy. “The EU, UK, and US rushed to applaud Bahrain for releasing political prisoners. They should now speak out and call on Bahrain to cease targeting those who were released.”
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In the judgment, the Court held that Serbia had violated Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which safeguards against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, when the Serbian courts had failed to examine Bahraini dissident Ahmed Jaafar’s complaint that he would face a risk of ill-treatment if extradited to Bahrain. The Court also held that Serbia had violated Article 34 of the Convention, which gives individuals the right to make applications to the Court, by going ahead with his extradition to Bahrain in contravention of an interim measure indicated by the Court on 21 January 2022. The Court ordered Serbia to pay EUR 9,800, plus any tax chargeable and interest in the event of a default in payment.
The decision of the Committee of Ministers records that, since the judgment, Serbia has placed a sum of money for Ahmed Jaafar in a deposit account in a domestic court. However, the Committee acknowledged his legal representatives’ argument that there are ‘difficulties in complying with the conditions for the release of the funds given the exceptional nature of [Ahmed Jaafar’s] situation’ of ongoing detention in Bahrain. Accordingly, the Committee indicated that Serbia should ‘co-operate with [his] representatives and the Secretariat to find solutions to enable the release of funds to take place without delay’.
The Committee’s decision also records ‘diplomatic steps already undertaken by the [Serbian] authorities to obtain information from the Bahraini authorities on [Ahmed Jaafar’s] current situation and to ensure that his rights under Article 3 are duly protected’. Noting Ahmed Jaafar’s legal representatives’ submissions concerning his ongoing maltreatment in Bahraini detention, the decision adds that these authorities are to ‘continue their efforts in this respect and to keep the Committee informed, to the extent possible, of any relevant developments’ as well as ‘undertake that, should they receive information that [Ahmed Jaafar] may risk treatment contrary to Article 3 of the Convention, they will take all possible measures within their competence to secure the effective protection of’ his rights under the Convention.
The decision also makes indications concerning general measures to be adopted by Serbia to improve the human rights situation in Serbia as relevant to the Court’s judgment. The Committee’s role in supervising the execution of the judgment under Article 46 of the Convention continues.
Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Director of Advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), commented:
‘It was very hard to hear Ahmed describing to me the degrading conditions he is living in at Jau Prison. He is stuck in a severely overcrowded cell, has repeatedly had to resort to hunger strikes just to secure basic rights, and has been in and out of solitary confinement.
This decision is an important reminder that Serbia cannot simply take Bahrain’s assurances at face value. It must face the reality of what happened after Ahmed’s unlawful extradition and do everything it can to protect him.’
Lawyers Marko Štambuk, Rodney Dixon KC, and Sebastian Bates, who represented Ahmed Jaafar before the Court and continue to do so before the Committee, added:
‘We welcome this decision of the Committee of Ministers. It reflects that, while Serbia has taken certain steps to implement the judgment of the Strasbourg Court concerning Ahmed Jaafar, there is much more to be undertaken. Serbia must do everything in its power to protect Ahmed Jaafar from violations of his rights in Bahrain. In our view, Ahmed Jaafar’s circumstances in Bahrain are such that this will likely mean in the end that Serbia must negotiate with Bahrain for his return to Serbian territory, where he was prior to his unlawful extradition in 2022. In the meantime, the Serbian authorities must be in effective contact with their Bahraini counterparts and must cooperate with us to secure payment of the whole sum ordered by the Strasbourg Court.’
]]>Restore Status, End Discrimination Against Shias with Iranian Heritage
(Beirut, June 11, 2026) –The Bahraini government on April 27, 2026 revoked the nationality of 69 citizens, including infants. All were Shia Muslims ofIranian heritage, the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) and Human Rights Watch said today. BIRD’s research found that at least 46people, more than half of them children, were rendered stateless.
“Bahraini authorities have long discriminated against the country’s Shia majority population,” said Niku Jafarnia, Bahrain and Yemen researcher at Human Rights Watch. “But stripping people of nationality, claiming that they are citizens of a foreign country where most of them have no legal ties is an extreme escalation.”
BIRD and Human Rights Watch spoke to nine people affected and two relatives of others affected. Researchers also reviewed the Bahraini government’s related statements and decisions, as well as documents supporting the nationality of some of those affected.
Of those affected, 33 were children, including 10 toddlers, with the youngest only 19 days old, based on BIRD analysis, underscoring the arbitrary and collective nature of the measure. The majority of Bahrainis are Shia, who have long been oppressed by the Bahraini government.
The Interior Ministry stated that the people stripped of citizenship are “of non-Bahraini origin.” While all are of Iranian descent, based on BIRD’s analysis – a background shared by up to 14 percent of Bahrain’s population – many of those interviewed said that their families had been in Bahrain for several generations and did not have Iranian nationality. Supporting documents reviewed showed that families had held Bahraini nationality for several generations, one of them for over a century.
One woman, whose husband and 9-month-old baby had been stripped of citizenship and left stateless, said of her husband: “Four generations [of his family] were born in Bahrain, all of them were born in Bahrain, he is Bahraini by birth. My kid, his father, grandfather, and their great grandfather are Bahrainis.” All of those interviewed said that the authorities had changed their nationality to Iranian.
On April 28, those stripped of nationality were ordered to go to the Passport and Immigration Authority, where they said they were forced to turn in their passports, IDs, and related papers.
One man, who said he was there from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., described the scene: “They were looking at us as if we were their enemies… we waited hours without water, without food.”
He and others were forced to sign documents stating that their nationalities had been revoked, and that they would leave the country by an unspecified date. He was forced to sign these forms on behalf of his entire family, including other adults. The man added that Passport and Immigration police beat a man who refused to sign to compel his signature.
Bahraini authorities then began deporting some of them, attempting to send them to Iran but they did not succeed. Other people were sent to Turkey, but Turkish authorities forced them to return to Bahrain. Thereafter, people interviewed said, Bahraini authorities detained them in a hotel and later sent some of them to Oman.
One man said the Bahraini authorities “treat[ed] us like mafia, like criminals, just wanting to throw us out.” One official directly threatened him with imprisonment, stating “if you come back to Bahrain… you will not see the light of day again.”
Multiple families with roots in Bahrain reaching back at least two generations have been torn apart. One woman sad: “Now [our] family is separated…[my sister] was crying because she left her child in Bahrain… three weeks [earlier], we were all gathering at my family house… [Now], we are divided into four countries by force.”
The government has justified its action by citing counterterrorism efforts and regional tensions amid the US-Israel/Iran conflict. The Interior Ministrystated that officials were acting on the basis of national security, claiming that the targeted individuals “expressed sympathy for, and glorified, Iran’s sinful hostile acts, or engaged in espionage with foreign parties.”
According to BIRD’s research, five of those stripped of their citizenship were prosecuted in proceedings that reportedly failed to meet international fair trial standards. One defendant was fined and sentenced to five years in prison solely for peaceful social media posts. Two others were sentenced to life imprisonment on espionage-related charges, while two received 10-year prison sentences for allegedly “filming” and “glorifying” the Iranian attacks. The defendants were reportedly denied access to legal counsel prior to appearing before the court, a longstanding concern in Bahrain’s prosecution of political and national security cases.
The citizenship revocation comes on the heels of Bahraini authorities’ sweeping arrests of people who were exercising their right to peaceful expression amid the conflict. In some cases, Bahraini authorities have sought the death penalty, accusing the defendants of espionage.
The Bahraini government has discriminated against its Shia population for years, including by targeting Shia clerics and arresting and prosecuting human rights defenders of Shia backgrounds.
In 2019, Bahrain amended its citizenship law to allow officials to revoke citizenship based on a cabinet decision alone, removing the need for a royal decree. The changes also ended a requirement to publish the names and ID numbers of those affected, reducing transparency and making it harder to identify children stripped of citizenship.
In 2024, the Bahraini government issued a royal decree, amending the citizenship law by removing judicial oversight over citizenship revocations and classifying such decisions as sovereign acts, meaning there is no way to challenge revocation of citizenship.
Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, widely regarded as reflecting customary international law, states that everyone has the right to a nationality and that no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality. Article 13 of the Universal Declaration and article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Bahrain has ratified, guarantee the right to enter one’s own country. In 1999, the Human Rights Committee, which interprets the covenant, stated that, “’The scope of ‘his own country’ is broader than the concept ‘country of his nationality,’” and that it would apply to people who have been stripped of their nationality in violation of international law.
A United Nations report from 2013 states that, “International law… obliges States to provide for an opportunity for the meaningful review of nationality decisions, including on substantive issues.” The report states that if the citizenship of a national is revoked, “lodging an appeal should suspend the effects of the decision, such that the individual continues to enjoy nationality – and related rights – until such time as the appeal has been settled.”
Article 29 of the Arab Charter on Human Rights, which Bahrain has ratified, states that, “Every person has the right to a nationality, and no citizen shall be deprived of his nationality without a legally valid reason.”
“Close scrutiny of those accused of “threatening national security” reveals that nearly half of them are children, including 10 toddlers who are now stateless,” said Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, advocacy director at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy. “Many families who have lived in Bahrain for generations have been forced to leave their homes and, in some cases, leave their children behind. Bahrain’s rulers have been emboldened to commit these egregious violations of international law and get away with destroying the future of innocent children because of the silence of their backers in London and Washington. They must be held accountable.”
]]>Their votes angered the King and prompted 37 of their colleagues in Parliament, including the Speaker of Parliament, to sign a petition calling for their removal.
During a parliamentary debate on 28 April, the MPs opposed a royal decree issued in 2024 that removed judicial oversight from all matters related to citizenship, classifying them as sovereign issues, and eliminated the possibility of legal challenge or appeal against citizenship revocations. The debate resulted in the approval of the 2024 royal decree, with 33 votes in favour, three against, three absent, and the Speaker not voting. The three who voted against the decree have since faced serious threats from the King, culminating today in the vote to strip them of their Parliamentary seats.
The vote came just one day after the authorities stripped 69 individuals of their citizenship on national security grounds for the government’s claims that they held “sympathy for and glorifying Iran’s sinful, hostile acts”. The mass revocation extended to the targeted individuals’ families and children, including infants. All individuals stripped of nationality in the revocation are Shia Muslims of Iranian heritage.
Two of the three MPs who later voted against the decree spoke in Parliament.
In a session published on the Parliament YouTube channel, Abdulnabi Salman emphasized the necessity of oversight in a just government, stating that “Always, the existence of oversight over any of the authorities would achieve justice and a sense of fairness and trust.” He also spoke out against collective punishments, adding, “It is true that whoever harms this country must be punished, but punishments must not be collective, God forbid, or be taken as reactions, because the matter relates to the fate, future, and trust of the people in the system and the judiciary.”
Mamdooh Al Saleh argued against the extension of the punishment to family members and stated: “…but what is the fault of the children and the grandchildren? They may have no guilt; they did not participate in their father’s crime or mistake.”
Three days after the debate, and following a meeting with UAE leaders, Bahrain’s King issued remarks to the press accusing the MPs of siding with “traitors” and warning that they must apologise to “the people” or face the same fate as those they were supporting: the stripping of their citizenship and deportation. His furious rhetoric suggests his personal views, in particular regarding the 2024 royal decree that he issued himself, and raises serious concerns of authoritarian abuse of power.
The King’s comments were welcomed by six Arab states, with the UAE and Kuwait expressing support immediately, then followed by Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Jordan.
Also today, Bahrain’s National Press Day, a journalist from Al-Ayyam was barred from entry to the parliamentary session due to a personal objection from the Speaker of the House of Representatives regarding a recent article headline.
Bahrain is ranked among the worst countries in the world for press freedom, placing 170th out of 180 countries in the latest ranking by Reporters Without Borders.
In response to today’s vote, Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Director of Advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, said:
“No elected representative should face the threat of deportation and citizenship revocation for casting a vote against the King’s wishes. That they were forced to apologise to the King – and that their apology did not save them from destroying their career and future – exposes the reality of political life in Bahrain: under dictatorship, dissent is equivalent to political suicide.”
]]>The head of Bahrain’s Terrorism Crimes Prosecution announced the “verdicts in two separate cases relating to espionage with foreign entities.” Six individuals were tried, including four Bahraini citizens and two Afghan nationals, resulting in the life imprisonment of five defendants and the acquittal of one. The Court also ordered the deportation of the two Afghan defendants upon completion of their sentences.
In a separate post, the Terrorism Crimes Prosecution announced convictions in twenty-two cases resulting in the conviction of twenty-five defendants; twenty-four of whom received sentences from five to ten years in prison and one charged with one year in prison, and fines of 2,000 dinars for all. BIRD has confirmed that one of those convicted was well-known social media influencer and photojournalist Sayed Baqer al-Kamel. Kamel, sentenced to ten years, posted a video of a high-rise building on fire because of an Iranian missile which hit the Seef district of Bahrain on 28 February 2026. The video, in which Kamel also asked his viewers to pray for Bahrain, has since been deleted from his profiles.
According to multiple interviews that BIRD conducted with lawyers and family members, these individuals had no access to legal counsel while in detention or at any time before their trials began, a clear violation of their right to a fair defense. Lawyers also raised concerns regarding access to the Public Prosecution’s evidence, as they were only able to take notes from the prosecution’s documents rather than receiving their own copies.
Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Director of Advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, said: “These verdicts represent the first political convictions since the US-Israel/Iran conflict began. The convictions are clear violations of international standards of due process: defendants had no access to legal counsel prior to their appearance before a judge, and lawyers had no access to the government’s evidence against their clients. This is a mockery of justice under the cover of counter-terrorism legislation.”
Background information
These verdicts come against a backdrop of escalating repression in Bahrain in relation to the conflict in Iran. Bahrain’s crackdown on civic space has had fatal consequences, leading to the death in custody by torture of 32-year-old Sayed Mohamed Almosawi on 27 March 2026, who was detained on accusation of Iranian espionage, a claim his family strongly denies. Mr Almosawi’s case is a rare admission of the Government’s culpability following the Special Investigation Unit’s acknowledgement that his death resulted from assault by a security official.
The crackdown has also extended to nationality rights. On 27 April 2026, 69 Bahraini nationals had their citizenship stripped for national security reasons related to the Iran conflict. This followed King Hamad’s announcement on 19 April 2026 that citizenship status would be reviewed for individuals considered to have “betrayed the nation”. This new crackdown takes place alongside similar directives in Kuwait, signalling potential regional coordination amidst the US-Israel/Iran conflict.
]]>This marks the first such mass revocation since 2019, when Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa ordered the restoration of citizenship to 551 individuals.
No information has been provided regarding the identities of those affected, whether they have been arrested, whether they are inside or outside the country, or whether they hold another nationality.
Commenting, Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Advocacy Director at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), said:
Background
On Sunday 19 April 2026, King Hamad held a high-profile meeting with senior officials in which he directed the government to begin a crackdown on Bahraini nationals accused of having “betrayed the nation.” The directive explicitly calls for a review of entitlement to Bahraini citizenship, with “appropriate legal procedures” to follow. The following day, Monday 20 April, the Cabinet convened under the Deputy Prime Minister and formally incorporated these directives into its work programme.
The significance of this development is difficult to overstate. Between 2012 and 2019, Bahrain revoked the citizenship of at least 990 nationals, rendering the majority stateless in breach of international law. The language now being used by the King and Cabinet mirrors the framing used to justify those earlier campaigns. There are strong grounds to be concerned that what is now being set in motion represents a comparable or larger-scale operation.
The timing is also notable. The King’s announcement came only four days after a meeting with the Kuwaiti Foreign Minister. Kuwait is itself currently engaged in a mass citizenship revocation campaign, and the proximity of the two events raises concerns about coordinated approaches across Gulf states.
The SIU announced that “the conclusion of its investigation into the death of a detainee and the referral of the perpetrator, who remains in custody, to criminal trial on charges of assault resulting in death.” While the statement does not reference the perpetrator’s position, it is clear they are referring to a security official due to the specific mandate of the SIU. The SIU has only charged one individual, and it remains unclear whether other security officials aided or stood by while Mr Almosawi was tortured to death.
Commenting on the SIU’s statement, Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Advocacy Director at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), said:
“The body of Sayed Mohamed Almosawi, marked by torture, has shocked the public and laid bare the continued reality of abuse in Bahrain.
This is a rare admission of torture by a government watchdog. The authorities must now ensure that their findings are fully shared with Almosawi’s family.
This trial must be fully transparent, and those responsible must face justice. Failure to do so will only entrench impunity. The family deserves truth and full accountability.”
While the SIU acknowledged today that Mr Almosawi’s death was caused by a “beating leading to death,” the fate of two others arrested with him remains unknown, raising concerns of another crime under international law, namely enforced disappearance.
Sayed Ahmed Almosawi and Mustafa Yousif have only contacted their families twice and were unable to disclose their place of detention. It is unclear whether the SIU has interviewed them as part of its investigation.
At this point, it is crucial that the SIU investigate the status of Sayed Mohamed’s co-detainees, particularly given the many reports of enforced disappearance cases in which the SIU and other watchdogs have failed to take action.
Background on investigation
On 27 March 2026, following Mr Almosawi’s burial, the Ministry of Interior (MOI) published a public statement. The statement made four claims, including that photographs circulating of his body were “inaccurate and misleading and have been deliberately disseminated to mislead public opinion.”
In a report released on Monday, BIRD and Human Rights Watch shared information gathered through eight interviews, including family members, friends, and human rights activists with knowledge about the case. An expert from New York-based NGO Physicians for Human Rights verified photos of Mr Almosawi’s body, which include metadata confirming the time, date and device used to take the photos.
The medical expert concluded that the injuries were consistent with “repeated blunt force trauma applied over time, possible use of both hands and implements, injuries inflicted in a controlled environment, potentially involving restraint, [and] targeted blunt force trauma to specific anatomical regions (face, torso, feet).” The medical expert said that the evidence from the photos was “highly consistent with alleged torture” and ruled out both accidental injury and cardiac death.
Further information on Mr Almosawi’s disappearance and death can be found in the report here.
On 5 April 2026, the SIU published a statement “initiated extensive investigations” and committed to “determining criminal responsibility and holding accountable anyone proven to be involved in this incident”.
Torture by Bahraini authorities also remains a key issue in the country. In November 2025, concluding observations by the UN Committee against Torture, noted that torture is “routinely used” by security forces and that the authorities have taken no meaningful steps to hold perpetrators accountable. The Committee found “consistent reports” of torture and ill-treatment by authorities used to extract confessions, punish detainees, or intimidate political opponents. It warned that the absence of independent investigations has created a “climate of impunity.”
In the face of Mr Almosawi’s death in custody and the remaining uncertainty regarding his two co-detainees, Bahrain must hold all involved to account through a transparent and fair trial.
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(Beirut) – A 32-year-old man who was forcibly disappeared in Bahrain on March 19, 2026, died in custody more than a week later and his body bore signs of torture, Human Rights Watch and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) said today.
After Sayed Mohamed Almosawi’s family lost contact with him for over a week, his parents received a call to come to the Bahrain Defense Hospital, a military hospital. When they arrived, they discovered that Mohamed Almosawi was dead and had visible signs of torture. The Interior Ministry subsequently said that the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) had detained him.
“No parents should ever get a phone call telling them to pick up the body of their son after searching for him for nine days,” said Niku Jafarnia, Yemen and Bahrain researcher at Human Rights Watch. “That Almosawi’s death came at the hands of the authorities, and in such a brutal way, makes this all the more horrific. Bahraini authorities should ensure that this never happens again.
Bahraini authorities should immediately and impartially investigate Mohamed Almosawi’s death and make the findings public, the groups said.
Human Rights Watch and BIRD interviewed eight people, including family members, friends, and human rights activists with knowledge about the case. A medical expert from Physicians for Human Rights reviewed photos and videos of the torture marks on Mohamed Almosawi’s body. Human Rights Watch and BIRD also reviewed the official “cause of death” report provided by authorities.
The medical expert concluded that the injuries were consistent with “repeated blunt force trauma applied over time, possible use of both hands and implements, injuries inflicted in a controlled environment, potentially involving restraint, [and] targeted blunt force trauma to specific anatomical regions (face, torso, feet).” The medical expert said that the evidence from the photos was “highly consistent with alleged torture” and ruled out both accidental injury and cardiac death.
Mohamed Almosawi, a small business owner and former political prisoner, was last seen on the morning of March 19 in a cafe in Tubli for suhoor, the meal eaten before dawn during Ramadan. He came there from an event at Imam Mojtaba Mosque in a village in Sanabis, near the capital Manama, with his cousin Sayed Ahmed Almosawi, and a friend, Mustafa Youssef.
A witness saw them leave at around 3:00 a.m., heading in the direction of Sanabis, reportedly to collect Almosawi’s car before returning to Muharraq, where they lived. Between 3:10 a.m. and 3:30 a.m., he was on a phone call with a family member while in the car, but the call was suddenly broken off. This is the last known communication with any of the three men before Mohamed Almosawi’s death.
From about 8:00 to 9:00 a.m., his WhatsApp was turned on briefly. His messages were marked as read, suggesting that the authorities were accessing his phone. The location, family members said, was near the Southern Hamad Town Police Station, Roundabout 17. His family called the station, but the authorities denied that he was there.
The families of the cousins then contacted the Interior Ministry but were told that they were not in custody. One of the families said that they were only able to file a missing person report on March 25 due to the Eid holidays, after which the police called them a few times and asked whether the men had returned home or if the families had heard anything about them.
On the morning of March 27, the family of Mohamed Almosawi received a call from the Bahrain Defense Hospital asking them to go to the hospital without stating the reason. Only when they arrived did the family learn that Mohamed Almosawi was dead.
Authorities said he had been brought there suffering from a heart attack and that they had unsuccessfully tried to resuscitate him. Naji Fateel, a human rights activist who saw the body prior to burial, told Human Rights Watch that the body was “full of bruises” and that “there were deep wounds.” Another person who saw the body said that much of it was discolored, completely black in some places. The death report says that he died at 2:29 a.m., but an individual who helped with burial procedures and saw the body at 1:30 p.m. that day told BIRD that “the body wasn’t fresh, and he had died 24 hours before if not more.” He said that “there is no evidence nor marks on Sayed Mohamed [Almosawi]’s body that suggest he received cardiopulmonary resuscitation, which might indicate that he arrived already dead.”
The Interior Ministry statement at 9:00 p.m. that day said that “the deceased had been detained by the National Intelligence Agency [NIA] on charges of espionage.” Assuming the NIA had detained him on March 19, and authorities had refused to provide information about his whereabouts to his family, this would amount to the crime of enforced disappearance.
His family denied the espionage allegations, saying he had not participated in political activity since being released from prison in April 2024.
Since the start of the war between the United States, Israel, and Iran, Human Rights Watch and BIRD have documented Bahraini authorities’ increased repression of free speech, including by detaining dozens of people for participating in peaceful protests, for protesting against the US and Israeli attacks in Iran, or for posting footage of the attacks on the social media. As of April 10, BIRD had documented the detention of at least 286 people since the beginning of the war.
“Bahraini authorities must be held to account for the death of Sayed Mohamed Almosawi, as well as for the many other violations of international law authorities continue to carry out against detainees,” said Sayed Ahmed al-Wadaei, director of advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD). “The Bahraini government and UN human rights bodies should ensure an impartial and independent investigation into the death of Sayed Mohamed that brings justice to his family and hold those responsible to account.”
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