Tag: Bahrain

Greater Middle East

UN rights experts: end Bahrain rights abuses

A group of independent UN human rights experts called upon Bahrain to put an end to rights violations and investigate events surrounding the "State of National Safety" declared in 2011. The experts warned against military courts exercising jurisdiction over civilians, and discrimination against women and the Shi'ite population. The report called for abolition of the death penalty, and a halt to the torture and ill-treatment of prisoners. While the "State of National Safety" officially ended after three months, the report noted an April 2017 amendment to the constitution granting military courts jurisdiction over civilians outside of a declared state of emergency. (Photo via Pixabay)

Greater Middle East

Bahrain: activist gets five years for tweeting

Amnesty International criticized a Bahrain court for sentencing the president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Nabeel Rajab, to five years in prison for posts he made on Twitter in 2015. Rajab is currently serving a separate sentence for his comments in interviews in 2015 and 2016. Rajab's tweets and retweets resulting in his current sentence alleged acts of torture in Bahrain's Jaw Prison and also related to the killing of civilians in the conflict in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition that also includes Bahrain. Stated Amnesty: "The conviction of Nabeel Rajab today is a slap in the face to justice… This shameful verdict must be quashed and the authorities must drop all pending charges and immediately release Nabeel Rajab. It is absolutely outrageous that he be forced to spend a further five years in jail simply for daring to voice his opinions online." (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Planet Watch

Oil prices surge: vindication is tedious

We've been told for the past several years now that the depressed oil prices were permanent, thanks to fracking and the surge in US domestic production. Now prices are rising again, due to a convergence of crises in major producers: escalating tensions among the Gulf states, labor unrest in Nigeria, deepening instability in Venezuela. The US was able to contain the price spike after the ISIS irruption in 2014 by boosting its own production. This trick isn't going to work forever.

Greater Middle East
Persian Gulf

Bahrain sentences rights defender to two years

Amnesty International condemned Bahrain's sentencing of human rights defender Nabeel Rajab to two years in prison—for the crime of protesting on his Twitter account the harsh conditions in Bahrain's prisons. Rajab has served time for illegal tweeting before, and still awaits sentencing on other similar charges. Amnesty condemned the conviction as a "flagrant violation of human rights."

Greater Middle East

Qatar crisis places US regional policing in pickle

Qatar's diplomatic isolation by the other Gulf states, accused of supporting terrorism in the region, heightens contradictions for the Pentagon's use of the critical al-Udeid Air Base.

Greater Middle East

UN to Bahrain: investigate protester deaths

The UN Human Rights Commissioner called on Bahrain to investigate the deaths of several protesters during a security operation against supporters of a persecuted Shi'ite cleric.

Greater Middle East

Bahrain: ‘total suppression’ of human rights

A court in Bahrain dissolved the main opposition political party, an act Amnesty International said is a step toward the "total suppression of human rights" in the Persian Gulf monarchy.

Greater Middle East

Bahrain rights defender Maryam al-Khawaja speaks

Exiled Bahraini human rights defender Maryam al-Khawaja, speaking in New York, says the Arab regimes are exploiting sectarianism to pit revolutions against each other. 

Greater Middle East

Amnesty: Bahrain rights reform outlook bleak

Amnesty International reports that nearly five years after Bahrain's Day of Rage protests sparked international concern over human rights, the hope for reform has dwindled.

Greater Middle East

Regional powers exploit Bahrain protests

Shi'ite protesters have repeatedly mobilized in Bahrain to demand the release of imprisoned dissident cleric Sheikh Ali Salman—ignored by the foreign media except in Iran.

Iran

Iran, Saudi Arabia wage execution war

Violent protests in Iran against Saudi Arabia's execution of a dissident Shi'ite cleric come as the Islamic Republic is itself preparing a mass execution of Sunni political prisoners.