The Court of Appeal confirmed Mr Sharif’s conviction over comments made during a media interview in Beirut criticising Arab governments’ failure to defend Palestinians and framing their stance as a ‘surrender’. While the court maintained the guilty verdict, it ruled that the remainder of the six-month prison sentence would be replaced with a non-custodial measure, leading to his release from Jau Prison.

Although Mr Sharif is expected to be released, pending approval by the Public Prosecution Office, the court expressly affirmed the underlying conviction and adopted a legal rationale that further entrenches the criminalisation of peaceful political expression in Bahrain. The conviction itself continues to rest on provisions of the Penal Code that are incompatible with international standards on freedom of expression.

Commenting on Mr Sharif’s conviction, Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, advocacy director at Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, stated: “Ebrahim Sharif’s release is a relief, but it does not erase the fact that he was imprisoned for peacefully exercising his right to free expression. His detention was an assault on freedom of speech. Bahrain must abolish its draconian laws criminalising free speech.”

The appeals court’s decision to replace imprisonment with an alternative punishment mitigates the immediate harm of detention but fails to remedy the fundamental injustice of the conviction itself. Mr Sharif was punished for expressing political opinions on matters of public interest, conduct that is fully protected under international law.

Fundamental flaws remain unaddressed

The trial court’s judgment, now left substantively intact by the appeals court, remains flawed in three key respects.

Mr Sharif was prosecuted under Articles 165, 215, and 92 of the Bahraini Penal Code, provisions that are routinely misused to punish peaceful speech. Article 165 criminalises anyone who “expressly incites others to develop hatred or hostility towards the system of government.” Article 215 targets a person who “offends in public a foreign country or on [sic] international organization based in the State of Bahrain or its president or representative.” Both carry a prison sentence and a fine which cannot exceed 200 dinars, and are vaguely worded offences whose misuse to suppress legitimate political expression has been repeatedly identified by United Nations human rights mechanisms. The UN Special Representative on human rights defenders has warned that prosecutions under Article 165 for allegedly “encouraging hatred of the State” or “distributing falsehoods and rumours” frequently risked suppressing lawful expression. In 2018, in its concluding observations on Bahrain’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the Human Rights Committee noted its concern for Bahrain’s imposition of serious restrictions on freedom of expression and “the large number of arrests and prosecutions of individuals criticizing State authorities or political figures.”

The judgment’s application of these provisions to Mr Sharif’s case is flawed in three specific respects.

First, the judgment reflects a profound misunderstanding of freedom of expression. Mr Sharif’s comments were political opinions criticising the foreign policy positions of Arab governments in relation to Palestine. The court treated these as criminal acts, applying Article 168’s prohibition on “false news” to what were plainly political value judgments. Calling a government “complicit” or “silent” is a political characterisation, not a factual claim capable of being proven true or false. The court’s reasoning collapses the distinction between opinion and fact, effectively criminalising political criticism itself.

Second, the judgment systematically overstates what Mr Sharif actually said, distorting his words beyond any possible interpretation. Mr Sharif called for boycotts, public pressure, and political change through public opinion, all of which are forms of peaceful civic action. Yet the court characterised these statements as incitement capable of “destabilising security and stability” and “undermining the longstanding social fabric,” and asserted a “direct link” to the likelihood of violence without identifying any evidence whatsoever of actual or threatened violence. The judgment simply assumes that calls for peaceful political pressure are inherently destabilising, a standard that would criminalise virtually all political speech.

Third, the judgment adopts a fundamentally flawed legal premise by asserting that the public and media nature of Mr Sharif’s statements removes them from the protection of freedom of expression. The court held that because the statements were made openly through a media outlet, they acquired a “criminal character” and fell outside constitutional and international safeguards. This reasoning is legally unsustainable. Freedom of expression exists precisely to protect public speech, including speech disseminated through the media. Political opinions expressed in interviews, broadcasts, or publications are at the very core of protected expression, not an exception to it. To treat media dissemination as a basis for criminal liability reverses the logic of free expression law and effectively renders all public political speech vulnerable to punishment, nullifying the right itself. Under international human rights law, the form, platform, or reach of expression cannot justify its criminalisation where the content is peaceful and political in nature.

Mr Sharif’s conviction demonstrates Bahrain’s continued failure to heed international recommendations and to bring its legal framework into line with its obligations.

Pattern of repression and conditions of detention

Mr Sharif’s arrest at Bahrain International Airport marks the tenth time he has faced detention, interrogation, or prosecution since 2011 for exercising his right to free expression. His continued imprisonment reflects a broader pattern in which authorities use vague speech offences to silence opposition figures, journalists, and human rights defenders.

During his pretrial detention at Dry Dock, Mr Sharif was held in appalling conditions marked by severe overcrowding and poor hygiene. Despite his advanced age (68) and medical conditions, his family reported that Mr Sharif was confined in unsanitary, overcrowded cells reportedly infested with bed bugs. Concerns regarding systemic deficiencies within Bahraini prisons have been raised by the UN Committee against Torture, which in 2025 highlighted persistent reports of overcrowding, insanitary conditions, and serious shortcomings in prison medical services, including at Dry Dock Detention Centre. The Committee warned that such conditions pose heightened risks to elderly and medically vulnerable detainees.

Violations of international free expression standards

Mr Sharif’s conviction violates Article 19 of the ICCPR, which protects the right to hold opinions and to impart information and ideas of all kinds. The UN Human Rights Committee has explicitly stated that “imprisonment is never an appropriate penalty for defamation” and has called on Bahrain to decriminalise criticism of governments. Mr Sharif’s case exemplifies Bahrain’s continued failure to bring its laws and practices into compliance with these standards.

Bahrain Public Prosecution issued a statement confirming the sentence.

Mr Sharif is a prominent democratic advocate, economist, and former Secretary-General of Bahrain’s National Democratic Action Society.

His conviction arises from a media interview conducted in Beirut, during which he called on Arab peoples and governments to support Palestinians and to end their ties with, and complicity in, Israel’s actions. 

Commenting on Mr Sharif’s sentence, Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, advocacy director at Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy: “This sentence sets a chilling precedent: a prominent public figure is being criminalised for standing with Palestine and challenging governments that have normalised relations amid Israel’s genocide. It signals a grave escalation in Bahrain’s assault on free expression and marks a new low for the Bahraini government.”

Sharif was arrested at Bahrain International Airport on 12 November 2025 upon his arrival from Beirut, where he had attended the Arab National Conference. Bahrain’s Interior Ministry published a statement later that day stating that he had been arrested for “spreading false news on social media and uttering phrases offensive to sisterly Arab states and their leadership.” The next day, Bahrain’s Office of Public Prosecution stated on Instagram that they had ordered his detention while the charges against him were investigated.

On 19 November 2025, Human Rights Watch and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy issued a statement calling for his immediate release.

This is the 10th time that Bahraini authorities have arrested, interrogated, or prosecuted Sharif since 2011, all on the basis of exercising his right to peaceful assembly and speech. 

Yusuf al-Jamri, a blogger, said that the authorities detained Sharif, former secretary general of Bahrain’s National Democratic Action Society, due to comments he made in Beirut to LuaLuaTV calling for Arabs and Arab governments to support Palestinians. The Bahrain authorities should immediately release him and end their long-standing practice of detaining people for their peaceful free speech.

“Governments should be ensuring they are taking action to prevent genocide and other crimes against Palestinians in Gaza, not detaining their citizens who make peaceful comments to support them,” said Niku Jafarnia, Bahrain and Yemen researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Sharif was arrested at Bahrain International Airport on November 12, 2025, upon his arrival from Beirut, where he had attended the Arab National Conference. Bahrain’s Interior Ministry published a statement later that day stating that he had been arrested for “spreading false news on social media and uttering phrases offensive to sisterly Arab states and their leadership.” The next day, Bahrain’s Public Prosecution stated on Instagram that the public prosecution had ordered his detention while the charges against him are investigated.

This is the 10th time that Bahraini authorities have arrested, interrogated, or prosecuted Sharif since 2011, all on the basis of exercising his right to peaceful assembly and speech.

He was sentenced to five years in prison in following his participation in the peaceful 2011 uprising in Bahrain. The authorities held him incommunicado for months, and at times in solitary detention, with no access to family members prior to his first appearance before the special military court. According to BIRD, He was torturedduring his detention, including sleep deprivation, sexual abuse, and beatings.

After being released on June 19, 2015, he was rearrested on July 11—three weeks later—for his peaceful criticism of the government in a speech he gave the day before. Authorities accused him of encouraging the overthrow of the government and “inciting hatred.” He was released one year later and placed under a travel ban.

The authorities rearrested Sharif on November 13, 2016, after he told the Associated Press that Prince Charles’s visit to Bahrain threatened to “whitewash” the Bahraini authorities’ crackdown on dissent. Authorities charged him with “inciting hatred” against the government.

They dropped the charges two weeks later, but then rearrested him in March, 2017, on the same charges relating to a series of tweets he published.

Between his arrest in 2017 and November 12, 2025, Sharif was arrested or prosecuted three more times, in 2019, 2023 and 2024, all for expressing peaceful views in social media posts.

Sharif’s case is not unique in Bahrain. Human Rights Watch has for decadesdocumented Bahraini authorities’ consistent arbitrary detentions of people for exercising their rights to free speech.

According to research by BIRD, an estimated 320 people are currently arbitrarily detained for political reasons in Bahrain, some of whom have been imprisoned since the 2011 pro-democracy uprising. Among them are some of the country’s most prominent human rights defenders and opposition figures, including Hassan Mushaima, Abduljalil Al-Singace, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, and Abdulwahab Husain.

Twelve of these prisoners are on death row, including Mohamed Ramadhan and Husain Moosa, whose imprisonment was declared arbitrary by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which also called for their immediate and unconditional release.

The UK and the EU have continued to sign trade deals with Bahrain without publicly calling on Bahrain to release the many political activists in detention, including Al-Khawaja and Sheikh Mohammed Habib Al-Muqdad who both are EU citizens. Just a few months ago, the UK signed a partnership agreement with Bahrain worth 2 billion GBP (US$2.6 billion).

“Governments allied with Bahrain should end their whitewashing of Bahrain’s abuses and place real pressure on Bahrain to end their violations against peaceful activists and the political opposition,” said Sayed Ahmed al-Wadaei, advocacy director at BIRD.

Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa,

3 April 2024

Your Majesties,

We, the undersigned, call your immediate attention to the deteriorating health of award-winning academic, blogger, and human rights defender Dr Abduljalil Al-Singace, who marks 1,000 days on a liquids-only hunger strike on April 3, 2024. We urge you to take action to immediately release Al-Singace, who is wrongfully detained, and ensure that he receives the healthcare he urgently needs. 

Al-Singace began his hunger strike on July 8, 2021, in response to prison authorities’ confiscation of his manuscript on Bahraini dialects of Arabic that he spent four years researching and writing. During his hunger strike, he has been sustaining himself only on multivitamin liquid supplements, tea with milk and sugar, water, and salts.

Al-Singace, who has a disability, has been wrongfully detained since his arrest in 2011 solely for exercising his human rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. He has reportedly been subject to torture during his time in detention. 

Since July 2021, according to UN experts, “Mr Al-Singace has been held in a state of isolation likely amounting to solitary confinement” within his room at Kanoo Medical Centre, where he has said that he has been prohibited from going outside, having exposure to direct sunlight, and receiving the adequate physiotherapy required for his disability. According to his family, he has also been deprived of necessary examinations and medical information, including results from MRI scans of his shoulder and head from October 2021. He has been denied treatment for several medical issues, including inflamed joints, impaired vision, enlarged prostate, and tremors.

Authorities continue to deny him medical items that doctors requested, including slippers to prevent slipping in the bathroom and a hot water bottle to relieve pain in his joints. Authorities have also limited his access to information by banning English and Arabic newspapers and restricting accessible TV channels. On January 21, 2024, Al-Singace’s family told the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy that they were subjected to harsh measures during visitations, which Al-Singace believes constituted a deliberate attempt to pressure him into declining visitations altogether. 

On April 17, 2023, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Gerard Quinn said that “as a human rights defender with a disability in detention, Al-Singace faces additional risks. He should be given frequent medical check-ups, afforded reasonable accommodation for his disability, with assistive technologies and other specialized care and considerations. But the Bahraini authorities have not always allowed him this.” 

We echo the “concern at the continuation of the violations perpetrated against Al-Singace” raised by a group of three UN special rapporteurs in September 2023, who also noted their previous communications regarding Al-Singace’s case, sent on December 30, 2021 and November 15, 2021. 

We follow up on our July 11, 2023 call for your intervention and urge you to release Al-Singace immediately and unconditionally. In the meantime, we urge you to ensure that he is held in conditions that meet international standards, receives his medication without delay, has access to adequate healthcare in compliance with medical ethics, and that his arbitrarily confiscated research is immediately transferred to his family members. 

Sincerely, 

1. Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD)
2. ALQST for Human Rights
3. Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHBR)
4. ARTICLE 19
5. Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR)
6. BRISMES (British Society Middle East Studies) Campaigns
7. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
8. Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
9. Democracy for Arab World Now (DAWN)
10. English PEN
11. Fair Square
12. Femena
13. FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
14. Freedom House
15. Front Line Defenders
16. Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)
17. Human Rights First
18. Human Rights Watch (HRW)
19. Index on Censorship
20. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
21. MENA Rights Group
22. Middle East Democracy Center (MEDC)
23. PEN America
24. PEN International
25. Rafto Foundation for Human Rights
26. Redress
27. Scholars at Risk
28. World organisation against torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

Mushaima, 75, is Bahrain’s oldest political prisoner and torture survivor, who is currently suffering from severe kidney damage after years of being denied access to adequate medical treatment by Bahraini authorities, despite being held in a medical facility since July 2021.

His family fears that he is nearing end-stage kidney failure and doctors are refusing to provide them with information regarding the level of his kidney damage after a doctor told Mr Mushaima that this information could not be disclosed without the permission of the Interior Ministry.

His son, Ali Mushaima commented: “We are being kept in the dark about my father’s medical condition, and are forced to fear the worst. Thinking that in his seventies, he will have to spend the rest of his life on dialysis while imprisoned is a nightmare.”

Niku Jafarnia, Bahrain and Yemen researcher at Human Rights Watch said: “Bahraini authorities have already wrongfully taken 12 years of Mr. Mushaima’s life from him and his family,”

She added: “They should immediately release this 75-year-old man and allow him to manage his deteriorating health from the comfort of his home.”

Read the letter here

Jaafar Sultan and Sadiq Thamer were arrested on May 8, 2015 and held incommunicado in solitary confinement for several months. Amnesty International reported that they were sentenced to death in a grossly unfair trial, as they had no access to legal representation throughout their pre-trial detention and interrogations and told the court that they were tortured and their confessions were extracted under duress. 

The death sentences are based on Tazir—the judge’s personal opinion on which punishment should be implemented. These arbitrary executions were in clear breach of Saudi domestic laws and international laws on the implementation of the death penalty. 

In June 2022, UN experts urged Saudi Arabia not to carry out the executions, stating 

“The enforcement of the death penalty against Mr. Sultan and Mr. Thamer could constitute an arbitrary execution.” They pointed out Saudi Arabia’s failure to investigate the torture allegations, stating: “we note with concern that the Government does not indicate in its response whether an investigation has been carried out with regard to the allegations of torture and ill-treatment in the specific cases of Mr Jaafar Sultan and Mr Sadek Thamer.” 

The Bahraini government has failed to acknowledge the executions. In 2016 Bahraini courts convicted the two men on identical charges and sentenced them to life imprisonment and stripped them of their citizenship. 

The families did not have any prior knowledge about the execution, about which they learned through the media. They have articulated their plea to the Saudi and Bahrain authorities to return the bodies of their beloved family members in order to bury them in accordance with their religious traditions and have called upon the Bahraini authorities to assist them in facilitating this. 

The parents of Sadiq and Jaafar, in a written statement shared with BIRD, stated: 

“Without any warning, we were shocked to discover the execution of our beloved sons through the media. We earnestly appeal to the Saudi authorities, urging them to return our sons’ bodies, allowing us the basic right to lay them to rest according to our traditions and beliefs. We also seek assistance from our own government, the Bahraini authorities, in achieving this outcome.”

Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Democracy and Human Rights in the Gulf and Father of the House, Sir Peter Bottomley MP, has said: 

“When Jaafar and Sadiq’s death sentences were finalised last year, I and 14 other parliamentarians wrote to the Saudi authorities, urging a halt to the executions. The cross-party call fell on deaf ears and both men were executed in a grave miscarriage of justice yesterday morning. 

Experts from the United Nations reported that the men received an unfair trial marred by torture allegations, with seemingly no investigation into their alleged abuse. 

If nothing else, the Saudi authorities must return their bodies to their families as soon as possible.

When previously raised in the House of Commons, the Government underscored its opposition to the use of the death penalty.

It is important that we stand firmer in support of this commitment.”

Sayed Ahmed AlWadaei, Director, Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) commented:“The arbitrary execution of two Bahraini men subjected to an unfair trial, marred by allegations of torture and coerced confessions by Saudi authorities, was a clear violation of international law. The Bahraini regime is complicit in giving the green light to Saudi Arabia by failing to enact any measures to save the lives of their own citizens. 

Saudi Arabia’s allies, namely the US and the UK, should publicly condemn these executions, and call on the Saudis to hand over the bodies to the families.”

Commenting, Legal Director of ESOHR Taha al-Hajji: “Saudi Arabia’s killing of Bahraini detainees who did not face most serious charges, which in international law are limited to murder, confirms its disregard for all international laws, opinions and commitments, especially that it had other options other than killing in this case, including issuing a ruling according to the Explosives Law or hand them over to their country.

This execution, in addition to 39 executions since the beginning 2023,  raises the fears on the lives of at least 61 detainees who are threatened with execution, including 9 minors. Silence over these crimes is complicity in it”. 

• MPs representing multiple countries took to the stage to speak out about the imprisonment of political prisoners with a focus on the case of Abdul-Hadi Al-Khawaja, dual Bahraini-Danish citizen. 

• Oral interventions criticising Bahrain’s human rights record came from MP in delegations hailing from Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Finland and Norway.

• The calls for his release received a fierce response from the spokesperson of the Bahraini delegation, Jamal Fakhro, who justified Al-Khawaja’s ongoing imprisonment and asked the delegates not to interfere in internal affairs. He further denied that Mr Al-Khawaja was tortured and wrongly stated that if he had been tortured, his case would have been overseen by Bahraini oversight bodies, such as the Ministry of Interior Ombudsman and the Special Investigation Unit. 

• The inaccuracy and weakness of this statement is belayed by the fact that these oversight bodies were only created in 2012, one year after Mr Al-Khawaja’s alleged torture. 

• The allegation of Mr Al-Khawaja’s torture were documented by the government-comissioned Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry report (BICI) report in November 2011, on page 438:
  • The report documented that Al-Khawaja was subjected to torture and sexually assaulted by security forces in 2011, stating that “Immediately after the arrest, the detainee received a hard blow to the side of his face, which broke his jaw”, “Security personnel in the hospital threatened him with sexual abuse and execution” and threatened his family, and “spent two months in solitary confinement in a small cell measuring approximately 2.5m x 2m” and that “masked guards” beat him “routinely” and sexually assaulted him, amongst other serious violations.

Maryam Al Khawaja commented: “It is vindicating to see the support my father is receiving at the IPU conference from MPs from multiple countries, as he completes 12 years of his life sentence which was deemed arbitrary by the United Nations. He continues to endure dire prison conditions and systematic denial of adequate medical treatment, like so many other Bahraini political prisoners. It is appalling to see the Bahraini delegation spokesperson telling blatant lies about the human rights situation in Bahrain as well as my father’s condition by denying the fact that he was tortured – a fact documented by the regime’s own fact finding commission. His citing of institutions set up a year after my father’s imprisonment, and which have yet to investigate my fathers torture, lays bare Bahrain’s transparent attempt to cover up the truth.”

Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Director of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) commented: “This turned out to be a PR disaster for the Bahraini regime. By hosting an international conference, they thought they could launder their image on the global stage, and sanitise their human rights record which is steeped in appalling violations and the widespread imprisonment of their citizens who demand democracy. The dictatorship’s decision to revoke the visas of Human Rights Watch researchers, to prevent them from observing this assembly, further exposes that their slogan of “promoting peaceful coexistence and inclusive societies” is nothing but a lie”.

Olive Moore, Interim Director of Front Line Defenders commented: “For Bahrain to host a global conference of parliamentarians working to strengthen the rule of law whilst simultaneously steamrolling over the human rights of its own citizens, is an utter farce. We salute the parliamentarians who spoke out to challenge this irony and call for the release of Abdul-Hadi Al-Khawaja and all human rights defenders arbitrarily imprisoned in Bahrain.”

Niku Jafarnia, Bahrain and Yemen researcher at Human Rights Watch commented: “The IPU’s senior leadership, including its president, has remained silent while the hosts of this year’s IPU Assembly, Bahrain’s government, arrest opposition activists, keep rights defenders like Abdulhadi al-Khawaja imprisoned, and even revoke visas from international rights groups like Human Rights Watch. The IPU leadership’s silence has only served to reinforce Bahrain’s whitewashing of human rights abuses, and has made a mockery of their slogan of ‘For democracy. For everyone.’ ”

• Ahead of the commencement of the 2023 Formula One (F1) season which begins this weekend in Bahrain, a coalition of 21 rights groups and Trade Unions have written to Stefano Domenicali, the CEO of F1 to call for urgent disclosure of human rights articles in F1 contracts. 

• 21 NGOs including the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) and Human Rights Watch are seeking clarification after the F1 CEO revealed in a recent interview that F1 contracts contain articles permitting the withdrawal of the sport from host countries if F1 was not satisfied “with the way human rights issues have developed in a country”. Rights groups are now calling on Mr Domencali to disclose these articles.

• Rights groups cite the example of Lewis Hamilton, as well as Pope Francis, as public figures who have used their platform to highlight ongoing human rights issues in Bahrain, such as the ongoing detention of political prisoners and use of the death penalty, and have called on F1 to follow their examples.

• In their letter, NGOs raised concerns over ongoing repression in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, citing mass executions in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain’s ongoing imprisonment of political leaders – such as opposition leader Hassan Mushaima and long-term hunger-striking human rights defender and academic, Dr Abdulajlil AlSingace, as well as those at imminent risk of execution on death row, including Mohammed Ramadhan, Husain Moosa. The letter demands F1 to “use all available leverage” to pressure Bahrain for their immediate release. 

• The rights groups further requested F1 “meet with victims” such as former female political prisoners and torture survivors Najah Yusuf and Hajer Mansoor, mother of arbitrarily imprisoned Sayed Nizar Alwadaei, as well as to issue a public statement “calling on F1 host countries to respect human rights to freedom of expression and assembly, to ensure nobody is subjected to reprisals during the races”.

• These calls come as UK lawmakers also express concerns over F1’s role in sportswashing abuse in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and demand that F1 commission an independent inquiry into the implications of its races in rights violations.

Key quotes:

• “We call upon you in the strongest of terms to end your role in sportswashing authoritarian Gulf regimes’ horrendous abuses, once and for all […]”

• “We are writing […] to raise our serious concerns over F1’s ongoing role in ‘sportswashing’ amidst a deterioration in Bahrain’s human rights situation.”

• “Gulf dictatorships continue to oversee some of the most repressive and violent regimes on the planet while retaining their generous F1 contracts. It therefore appears that F1’s threshold for a country to be considered as ‘not going in the right direction’, thus causing the articles referenced to be invoked, is unreasonable to such a level that it is rendered meaningless.”

• “Since your 2022 races, human rights in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have been increasingly trampled upon by these autocracies. If you are serious about putting human rights ‘at the centre’ of your agenda, such egregious violations must not go unchallenged by F1.”

• “It is abundantly clear that human rights in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia could not be further from ‘going in the right direction’. F1’s ongoing operations in these states, without efforts to address human rights concerns, will serve only to facilitate sportswashing of abuses.”

Comments

Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Director of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), commented: “The pressure is mounting on Formula One management to be transparent on its relationship with abusive authoritarian regimes. They must now respond to calls from expert human rights organisations around the world and reveal the human rights articles in their contracts which would allow them to withdraw hosting privileges from a country in light of continued harrowing human rights violations of international law by those states.” 

Husain Abdulla, Executive Director of Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB), commented: “If Formula One insists on refusing to acknowledge both the abuses committed by their business partners, and the pleas coming directly from victims themselves, how can they claim their human rights policy is worth the paper it’s written on? Our efforts compelled them to adopt a human rights policy and they now have a duty to implement it”.

Andrea Florence, Director of Sport & Rights Alliance, commented: “The growing trend of ‘sportswashing’ often goes hand in hand with repressing athletes’ rights to protest. Formula 1 and Federation Internationale d’Automobile (FIA) should use all available leverage to hold Bahrain accountable to its human rights violations – and they can start by protecting the voices of athletes who make their sport possible.” 

• • Read the full letter 

• Today, the High Criminal Second Court of Appeal upheld the fine against Al-Khawaja where he was accused of breaking a plastic chair in protest of denying him his right to call his two daughters in exile and he was sentenced on 28 November 2022 to pay 60 Bahraini Dinars (equivalent to £133 UK Pounds or $160 US dollars). Since last week, this is the second case in which Al-Khawaja’s conviction was upheld by an appeal court after it refused him his right to appeal the initial judgement, according to his lawyers and family members.

• The court concluded today: “The court decided to accept the appeal in its general form but rejected its subject matter and upheld the appealed ruling.”

• In his letter to the judge today, Abdul-Hadi Al-Khawaja stated: “I anticipate that, once again, there will be obstacles placed to prevent my transfer from prison to the courtroom for the session dedicated to presenting my defence case, which is also my last opportunity to do so. As a result, I have instructed my defence lawyer to withdraw from today’s session in the event that he is unable to visit me prior to the hearing session or if I am not permitted to attend.”

• Prior to today’s hearing, his daughter Maryam Al-Khawaja sent a letter from her father to the Justice Minister that detailed his reason for withdrawing from the trial, exposing rights abuses and denial of due process, defending his positions, shedding lights on violations in Bahrain’s prisons whilst also criticising the UK government for backing the regime. 

• Read a full translated copy of his letter here (see Arabic original here).

• Al-Khawaja defended his action, stating: “Upon examining the file of this case and similar cases, it becomes clear that there is a complex network of laws, procedures, and security, legal, and judicial institutions working in unison to violate the rights of prisoners, especially those who oppose the regime, rather than protecting those rights.”

• The trial began today at 2PM Bahrain time in Bahrain’s High Criminal Second Court of Appeal, and comes after Al-Khawaja has been subjected to a series of new criminal charges as a form of judicial harassment in reprisal for his activism within the prison and to deny him any form of access to early release.

• This continued judicial harassment follows the European Parliament’s 15 December 2022 overwhelming adoption of an urgent resolution highlighting his case and those of other political prisoners, and calling for his release. 

• Al-Khawaja’s letter argued that the 19 cases the Government of Bahrain brought against him since 2004 are all related to his human rights activities, and have intensified since his receipt of the Martin Ennals Human Rights Award in 2022. Al-Khawaja ended his letter, stating: 

• “In conclusion, what happened and is happening to me is nothing but a model of hundreds of the worst and most severe cases against prisoners who are deprived of any voice or the ability to defend themselves. I will continue to use every legitimate means at my disposal to defend my rights and the rights of other prisoners. For me, surrendering or giving in is not an option. Any ruling issued by your court or any other court or judge will only reveal the true nature of the justice system in Bahrain and will not change the fact that justice has not been served.”

Other cases and pending charges.

• On 29 December 2022, Bahrain’s high court of appeal rejected his appeal on a separate charge which is related to insulting a civil servant.

• Al-Khawaja is also facing a potential charge of “inciting hatred against the regime” that could carry up to 10 years in prison. The charge is currently filed and “under investigation” at the public prosecution, and could be moved to trial at any time.

Maryam Al-Khawaja, prominent human rights defender and daughter of Abdul-Hadi Al-Khawaja commented: “I am not shocked by the court’s decision since the court is doing exactly what it is intended to do: violate rights and punish human rights defenders like my father.  My father’s letter says everything that needs to be said, not only about his cases, but also about the system of reprisals against human rights activists and the involvement of the British government.”

Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Director of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, commented: “Despite over a decade of unlawful imprisonment that followed horrific torture, Abdul-Hadi Al-Khawaja continues to inspire and is determined to defend his rights and others. Today’s judgement illustrates the corruption that lies at the core of Bahrain’s judiciary and its complete disregard for international standards.

Al-Khawaja’s exposure of the UK government’s role must compel it to end its complicity in the human rights abuses in Bahrain.”

• In 2012, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued a decision which deemed his continued detention to be arbitrary and in contravention of international law.

• In response, Stewart shouted: “Get stuffed. Bahrain’s a great place. End of.”, adding “Go away, I hate you” before subjecting Sayed Ahmed Alawadei to racist abuse ordering him to “Go back to Bahrain.”  Soon after, he added: “now you shut up you stupid man.”

• Alwadaei, the director of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), asked Bob Stewart as he was approaching Lancaster House, “Bob Stewart, for how much did you sell yourself to the Bahraini regime?”, adding “you were paid by them recently”, referring to a lavish trip to the country last month during sham elections where Bob exclaimed “God save the King of Bahrain” in a speech praising the country’s dictatorship. Stewart also claimed in a debate in the House of Commons this year that “Bahrain does not have political prisoners”.

• Alwadaei was injured by the Bahraini police in 2011 and subsequently imprisoned and tortured, and sentenced by a military court for taking part in a pro-democracy uprising in 2011.
  • Alwadaei fled to the UK in 2012 and was granted political asylum by the UK Home Office, where he later co-founded the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) and continued to advocate for the respect of human rights in Bahrain, expose violations and work to hold perpetrators to account, particularly with regards to death penalty and political prisoners. 
  • In 2020, Alwadaei was the recipient of the Index on Censorship award for his advocacy in Bahrain.
  • Alwadaei’s Bahraini citizenship was also revoked months after protesting against King Hamad’s presence at the Royal Windsor Horse Show in 2013, rendering him stateless in a blatant breach of international law and meaning he is unable to “go back to Bahrain”.
  • A report published by the UN Secretary General in September 2022 on individuals subjected to reprisals as a result of engagement with UN bodies stated: “The cases of Mr. Sayed Ahmed Al- Wadaei and several of his relatives were included in the 2018, 2019 and 2020 reports of the Secretary-General on allegations of arbitrary arrest, ill-treatment, removal of citizenship and reprisals against family members for Mr. Al-Wadaei’s continuous engagement with the UN. Mr. Al-Wadaei.”
  • A Bahrain news agency has published photos of Bob Stewart standing next to the Bahraini Ambassador to the UK and former PM Theresa May. Conversative Party Chairman, Nadhim Zahawi, was also at the event where he was an “honoured guest” and delivered a speech.

• Alwadaei has submitted a complaint to the Parliamentary Commission for Standards and the Chairman of the Conservative Party, Nadihm Zahawi, and is seeking legal advice to submit a complaint before the police.

Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Director of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) commented: “When I asked Bob Stewart about his links with Bahrain’s dictatorship, he told me “Bahrain’s a great place… I hate you … Go back to Bahrain” and said “now you shut up you stupid man”. 

“I still have the scars from where the authorities kicked me in the head, and if I went back to Bahrain I would face further torture and imprisonment. My family members are still suffering from reprisals. My brother-in-law, Sayed Nizar Alwadaei, is languishing behind bars in Bahrain’s jail after harrowing torture, in what the UN has deemed to be a reprisal for my human rights activities, and went on to call for his release.”

“I don’t believe I would have been told to “go back” to the country that violently tortured me if it weren’t for the colour of my skin. No one should be subjected to racist abuse, particularly for holding an MP to account for accepting lavish gifts from one of the world’s most repressive regimes, and then acting as its mouthpiece by publicly denying its notorious and extensively documented human rights abuses which have been condemned by the United Nations.”

Background:

• On 3rd December, The Independent revealed that Bob Stewart MP: “who declared “God save the King of Bahrain” during a speech received at least £10,000 worth of hospitality and travel from the country’s rulers, The Independent has learnt. Bob Stewart, who has also spoken in defence of the regime in parliament, has been paid to travel to the country on multiple occasions, with thousands of pounds spent on him each time.”

• Last month, Bob Stewart MP visited Bahrain as part of a four day trip, which was paid for by the Government of Bahrain, according to the parliamentary record.

• Bob Stewart intervened in a House of Commons debate in January on political prisoners in Bahrain stating: “I have very close contacts with Bahrain, and it would dispute those figures for the number of people utterly and completely. Bahrain does not have political prisoners; they are all prisoners who are there because they have committed a crime.”  

Recent joint work of BIRD with Human Rights Watch and Reprieve:

• An October 2022 report by BIRD and Human Rights Watch found serious and persistent human rights violations underlying the convictions and death sentences of cases of eight men, including pro-democracy protesters Mohammed Ramadhan and Husain Moosa who are currently at risk of imminent execution.
  • The report documents a litany of shocking human rights abuses including manifestly unfair trials and the use of torture such as electric shocks to the chest and genitals, sleep deprivation, beatings, and attempted rape, to coerce confessions from the eight death row inmates;
  • Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Interior Ombudsman and Special Investigations Unit are all beneficiaries of the UK government’s taxpayer-funded Gulf Strategy Fund, named in the report as being implicated in these abuses;
  • The Telegraph reported the UK government may have “broken its own rules by allegedly not properly assessing its financial support to Bahrain’s judicial system […] that would be a breach of the UK’s own guidelines” and that “the FCDO would not say” whether it had received assurances from Bahrain as its policy requires it to do.
• In July 2021, BIRD and Reprieve published a report that found a significant escalation in the use of the death sentences in Bahrain since the Arab Spring protests, with death sentences rising by over 600%.