Human rights in Bahrain

In November 2018, a Bahraini footballer Hakeem al-Araibi, who had been sentenced in absentia by Bahrain to 10 years in prison for vandalising a police station, was arrested upon arrival in Thailand with his wife for their honeymoon. The footballer, who was given refugee status by Australia in 2014, urged the Thailand authorities not to deport him to Bahrain as he was previously tortured in Bahrain for his political views.[15]

He was kept in detention in Thailand while the Australian government and many international organisations and individuals lobbied for his release, until it was announced on 11 February 2019 by the Thai Office of the Attorney-General (OAG)[16] that the extradition case against al-Araibi had been dropped by the criminal court at Bahrain's request. No reason was given by the foreign ministry, but the decision was made under Section 21 of the Prosecution Act, which allows for cases to be dropped if not in the public interest, and he would be released and allowed to return to Australia as soon as possible.[17]

A majority of the citizen population of Bahrain are Shia Muslims.[18] The ruling Sunni Al Khalifa family, who were supported by the US, arrived in Bahrain from Qatar at the end of the eighteenth century. Shiites alleged that the Al Khalifa failed to gain legitimacy in Bahrain and established a system of "political apartheid based on racial, sectarian, and tribal discrimination."[19] Vali Nasr, a leading expert on Middle East and Islamic world said "For Shi'ites, Sunni rule has been like living under apartheid".[20]

According to The Christian Science Monitor, Bahrain is practicing "a form of sectarian apartheid by not allowing Shiites to hold key government posts or serve in the police or military. In fact, the security forces are staffed by Sunnis from Syria and Pakistan who also get fast-tracked to Bahraini citizenship, much to the displeasure of the indigenous Shiite population."[21]

According to the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, while the Shiites exceeds 70% of the population, "they occupy less than 18% of total top jobs in government establishments. In several government ministries and corporations no Shiite is appointed in leading jobs."[22]

Jobs in the police and armed forced are reserved for Sunni.[22] Sunni Saudis are admitted to Bahrain as citizens to fill these jobs.[22][23][24] Shiites and "some Sunnis of Persian origins", are banned from residing in the city of Riffa, where only the Sunni Muslims are permitted to live.[22]

There are also concerns of the Bahraini government's systematic efforts to diminish the Shia majority by promotion of immigration of Sunni Muslims and granting them citizenship.[22][25] According to Dr. Saeeid Shahabi, a London-based journalist,[26]

On 28 April 2007, the lower house of Bahraini Parliament passed a law banning unmarried migrant workers from living in residential areas. To justify the law MP Nasser Fadhala, a close ally of the government said "bachelors also use these houses to make alcohol, run prostitute rings or to rape children and housemaids".[27]

Sadiq Rahma, technical committee head, who is a member of Al Wefaq said: "The rules we are drawing up are designed to protect the rights of both the families and the Asian bachelors (..) these labourers often have habits which are difficult for families living nearby to tolerate (..) they come out of their homes half dressed, brew alcohol illegally in their homes, use prostitutes and make the neighbourhood dirty (..) these are poor people who often live in groups of 50 or more, crammed into one house or apartment," said Mr Rahma. "The rules also state that there must be at least one bathroom for every five people (..) there have also been cases in which young children have been sexually molested."[28]

Bahrain Centre for Human Rights issued a press release condemning this decision as discriminatory and promoting negative racist attitudes towards migrant workers.[27][29] Nabeel Rajab, then BCHR vice president, said: It is appalling that Bahrain is willing to rest on the benefits of these people’s hard work, and often their suffering, but that they refuse to live with them in equality and dignity. The solution is not to force migrant workers into ghettos, but to urge companies to improve living conditions for workers – and not to accommodate large numbers of workers in inadequate space, and to improve the standard of living for them.[27][29]

There was a flurry of race hate messages sent to naturalized Bahrainis from developing countries after opposition political leaders alleged that immigration was tantamount to ‘cultural genocide’. In November 2006, Al Ayam published a collection of threats sent to naturalized citizens warning that they would have to 'choose between the suitcase and the coffin', promising 'Death and fire are your destiny' and another warned that the author hated all naturalized Bahrainis, "You are detested. You have taken from us, the sons of Bahrain, our homes, jobs and education opportunities. You will face the same destiny as the Egyptians in Iraq [after the end of the Iraq-Iran war]. It will be nails, hammers and a coffin. Your destiny is near."[30]

According to Human Rights Watch, Bahrain's personal status law (Law 19/2009), adopted in 2009 and marriage, divorce, custody, and inheritance cases, applies only to Sunnis although women's groups believe that it should treat all citizens equally.[1]

On 27 September 2017, Bahraini authorities attacked and took down many Ashura banners and slogans. Ashura, the tenth day of the Islamic year, is an event commemorated by Shias annually, as it marks the date that Imam Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, was martyred in the Battle of Karbala. This is not the first time that Bahraini authorities have attacked the commemoration of Ashura; rather, they do so on a yearly basis.[31]

Among the journalists, authors and human rights activists who have criticized Bahrain's system as apartheid are Mansoor Al-Jamri, former editor of the Bahraini newspaper Al Wasat,[32][33] the Voice of Bahrain,[34][35] Saeed Shahabi of the Bahrain Freedom Movement,[36][37] New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof,[38][39][40][41][42] Irshad Manji,[43] Shibil Siddiqi,[44] Ameen Izzadeen,[45] Ben Cohen,[46][47] Professor Staci Strobl,[48] Ali Akbar Salehi, the Foreign Minister of Iran.[49][50][51]

In 1996 the UK newspaper The Guardian stated that, "if Bahrain is to preserve its reputation as a financial and service center in the Gulf, then the government must begin to forge a new national consensus and end the apartheid against the Shi'ites".[52]

In 1997, Joe Stork of Human Rights Watch said the apartheid practiced against the Shia by the government appeared to be "worsening."[53]

In August 2017, United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke against the discrimination of Shias in Bahrain, saying, "Members of the Shia community there continue to report ongoing discrimination in government employment, education, and the justice system," and that "Bahrain must stop discriminating against the Shia communities." He also stated that "In Bahrain, the government continue to question, detain and arrest Shia clerics, community members and opposition politicians."[54][55]

Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab was released from prison on 9 June 2020. He was detained in 2016 and then sentenced for five years in prison on peacefully expressing his views on the Bahraini government online. Human Rights Watch urged the government to release the human rights defenders, political activists, opposition leaders, and journalists who were unjustly imprisoned for peacefully expressing their opinions.[56]

In April 2021, rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja not only turned 60 years old but also completed 10 years of unconditional imprisonment. The family members of Abdulhadi are concerned about his well-being due to his declining health condition during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the report issued by Civicus, an international non-profit organization, Al-Khawaja has spent 10 years of unreasonable incarceration along with abuse and mistreatment at the hands of the prison authorities. He was arrested in 2011 for a critical stance against the government and for organizing protests that demanded political reforms during the 2011 Arab uprisings. Rights organizations are now calling for his prompt release.[57][58]

Human rights groups reported on 9 April 2021 the detention of the family members of prominent political prisoners following their peaceful protests against their imprisonment, which included Mohammed Al-Daqqaq and his inmate on death row, Mohammed Ramadhan. The arrests were made during an event of suppression of protesters during a demonstration against the severe outbreak of coronavirus at the Jau Prison, where the political prisoners have been held.[59]

According to Ricochet, independent journalism and crowdfunded media outlet, the largest prison of Bahrain, Jau, an average cell measuring 3 by 3.4 meters house approximately 12 prisoners at a time, despite coronavirus pandemic. Many of the inmates are political prisoners arrested for opposition against the government or protests during the Arab Spring movement. The conditions at the prison are reportedly dirty and unhygienic. However, the economical and geopolitical relations shared by Ottawa and Washington with Bahrain are apparently overshadowing the violation of human rights in the Gulf nation. When the relatives of the prisoners discovered that 3 Covid-positive cases had been detected at the prison, they took to the streets to protest against the continued imprisonment of the political prisoners. The event was followed by prisoners being beaten in their cells by authorities, as per Bahrain's National Institution for Human Rights.[60]

In April 2021, the death of a Bahraini prisoner at the Jau prison due to COVID-19 led to protests from angry inmates who feared their lives following the lack of medical facilities and treatment. The sit-in lasted for 10 days at building 13. The data provided by the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy and reviewed by the Guardian stated that at least 138 inmates at the prison had been infected with COVID-19 since March 22, 2021.[61]

The COVID-19 outbreak in Bahrain's main prison, Jau has left prisoners with poor living conditions asprison authorities continue to deliberately neglect medical needs. According to Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB), a second outbreak at Jau began in mid-May’21, infecting at least 60%of the 255 political prisoners.[62]

A 22-year-old Bahraini, Mustafa Abdul-Karim Khatam, was reported to be in a bad health condition, following torture inside Jau Prison. He was allegedly interrogated and tortured to submit to charges. Despite the worsened conditions, Khatam was denied any medical assistance or care, criticized by human rights organizations.[63]

In July 2021, non-governmental organisation IFEX called upon the Bahraini government to immediately release prominent Bahraini human rights defender and academic Dr.Abduljalil AlSingace, who went on a hunger strike to protest against the degrading and punitive treatment he had been receiving from Jau Prison authorities.[64]

On 22 August 2021, The Independent revealed that the UK government has been using British taxpayers’ money to secretly fund a Bahraini government institution, known as the National Intelligence Agency Ombudsman. The institution was accused of “whitewashing” the torture and rape of women's rights activists. The British government was condemned by Najah Yusuf and Ebtisam Al-Saegh, the two activists who were alleged of being sexually assaulted by the Bahraini authorities.[65]

On 24 September 2021, the Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) reported that a bipartisan group of the United States senators called on the Secretary of State Antony Blinken to press the Bahraini government to end human right abuses including, “arbitrary detention, torture, cruel and degrading treatment of prisoners, restrictions on freedom of the press, interference with peaceful assembly, and restrictions on political participation and religious practice”.[66][67]

In October 2021, the US Senate Appropriations Committee addressed the extensive human rights violations by the Bahraini government. The Committee expressed concerns over the “widespread use of arbitrary detention, torture, violation of due process, and unfair trials in Bahrain”. They also pointed out at the intolerance towards free expression and suppression of peaceful dissent. The committee's legislation stated that Government of Bahrain should release the political prisoners, human rights activists and independent journalists without condition.[68]

On 20 December 2021, 12 members of the European Parliament signed a joint letter to High Representative Josep Borrell, expressing grave concerns about the human rights violations in Bahrain. The letter, under the initiative of the European Center for Democracy and Human Rights (ECDHR), raised many questions regarding the measures taken by the European External Action Service (EEAS). The MEPs mentioned the situation of the imprisoned opposition leader, Hasan Mushaima, and prominent opposition activist Dr. Abduljalil Al-Singace, along with two European citizens, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and Sheikh Mohammad Habib Al-Miqdad. The MEPs also requested in their letter to impose sanctions against members of the government of Bahrain responsible for the said violation of human rights.[69]

On 14 January 2022, the Scottish National Party criticised the UK’s relationship with Bahrain and accused the government of prioritizing trade deals over human rights abuses. In the House of Commons, SNP’s Westminster human rights spokesman Brendan O'Hara stated that when it came to right and wrong, the Government’s position on Bahrain shows it has “clearly picked which side they are on”, citing the case of Dr. Al-Singace, who has suffered torture and sexual abuse at the hands of Bahraini security forces.[70]

It was revealed in February 2022 that Bahrain used Israel's Pegasus spyware to hack into the phones of three individuals involved in political opposition. The targets included a prominent lawyer, an exiled Bahraini psychiatrist and a journalist. A separate investigation by the Pegasus Project revealed that 20 loyalists close to Bahrain's government, including two members of the royal family, were also listed in the leaked database of numbers targeted or hacked by NSO. The mobile phone of a US state department official, who was stationed in Bahrain at the time of her selection, also appears on the leaked database.[71][72]

On 5 April 2022, a report by Human Rights Watch claimed that Bahrain failed to fulfil an undertaking it pledged at the Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review in 2008. The Kingdom had pledged that it “is fully committed to supporting non-governmental organizations through legal and other instruments”. Instead, it shut down almost all NGOs that were critical of the regime. HRW said independent media and foreign journalists rarely have access to the country. With abusive restrictions on freedom of expression, Bahrain arbitrarily imprisons human rights defenders and those who took part in protests. The repressive Kingdom was asked to permit an access for foreign journalists and human rights organizations into the country.[73]

On 12 April 2022, Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) criticized relations of the UK and US with Bahrain, stating that the two nations turned a blind-eye towards the Arab nation's legalization of systematic repression and human rights violations. The US and UK were condemned for continuing their business-as-usual with Bahrain and for ignoring the torture, unfair trials, and killing of protesters and critics of the government. ADHRB stated that the futile political reforms enacted by the Bahraini government to improve the country's human rights situation have covered for both the US and the UK to continue their political relations with the Arab nation, while neglecting the country's human rights violations.[74]

On 10 October 2022, the Human Rights Watch and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy released a joint report stating that Bahraini courts routinely violated defendants’ rights to fair trials, and sentenced defendants to death following manifestly unfair trials, based primarily on confessions allegedly coerced through torture. Since 2011, courts in Bahrain have sentenced 51 people to death, and the state has executed six since the end of a de facto moratorium on executions in 2017. As of June 2022, 26 men were on death row, and all have exhausted their appeals.[75]

In August 2023, Bahrain's government used political isolation laws to curb activists and former opposition members from public participation, resulting in rights abuses and stifled democracy, as per a report by Human Rights Watch. The laws, enacted in 2018, restricted running for parliament and serving on civic boards, prompting criticism and calls for their repeal to restore civil rights.[76]

In 2010 the Al-Wafa Islamic Movement, Haq Movement and Bahrain Freedom Movement called for a boycott of the 23 October election to the Bahraini Council of Representatives on the grounds that participation would be "tantamount to accepting the unjust sectarian apartheid system."[35]

On 19 August 2015, Bahraini authorities arrested Shia cleric and former MP Sheikh Hassan Isa. His arrest on false charges was said to be a reprisal of the Bahraini government against him, and it was reported that the measures taken against Sheikh Isa, who was innocent, violated national and international law.[77][78][79]

On 20 June 2016, Ayatullah Sheikh Isa Qassim was stripped of his nationality. As a result, some people protested the Bahraini government's act of doing this by holding a sit-in outside the home of the Ayatullah. On 23 May 2017, however, Bahraini security forces attack the sit-in. As a result of the attack, five people died, dozens of people were injured, and hundreds of people were arrested. The Ayatullah was also placed under house arrest.[80]

In August 2017, Bahraini authorities arrested Shia cleric Sayed Mohieldin Al-Mashaal. Sayed Al-Mashaal had previously been harassed by the Bahraini authorities for about 5 years.[81]

Also in August 2017, around the three-month anniversary of Ayatullah Sheikh Isa Qassim's house arrest, it was reported that Bahraini authorities were placing concrete barriers around his house.[80]

On 1 November 2017, Bahrain imposed charges against Sheikh Ali Salman, Hassan Sultan, and Ali al-Aswad because of their efforts for reform through peaceful means. In March 2018, Bahrain refused to grant Bahraini citizenship to the daughter of Sheikh Ali Salman, a prominent Shia and opposition leader in Bahrain. This was Bahrain's retribution for the imprisoned Shiekh's peaceful attempts for reform in the country.[82]

In late April 2018, after the Bahraini monarch commuted the death sentences of four men who had been tried by Bahrain's military court, four Shia sheikhs released a statement saying that they hoped that such steps would be "extended to the rest of those sentenced [to death]." The statement also called for a "homeland of love, tolerance, justice, and prosperity." In response, Bahrain's interior ministry threatened the sheikhs with "legal action."[83]

Since 20 June 2016, Bahrain has prevented the leader of Friday prayers of Diraz, a village of about 30,000 people, from entering.[84]

A security court handed down what have been described as "harsh sentences" to 20 Bahraini medical workers in September 2011. The accused workers, who all worked at the Salminaya Medical Center, were given prison terms ranging from 5–15 years based on government claims that the medical workers had taken over the hospital and used it for antigovernment activity.[95]

After the sentences were condemned by United Nations secretary Ban Ki-moon and international human rights groups such as Physicians for Human Rights, Bahraini judicial authorities nullified the convictions and ordered retrials in civilian court.[96]

In January 2012, Richard Sollom, deputy director of Physicians for Human Rights, was denied entry to Bahrain, where he had travelled to monitor the appellate court trial of the 20 previously sentenced medics. Bahrain had promised greater transparency in the wake of an international investigation into the human rights violations that occurred during the uprising, yet refused to allow Sollom, who carried a valid entry visa, to view the trial or even enter the country.[97]

On the weekend of 31 January/1 February 2015, 72 Bahraini citizens, including "about 50 journalists, bloggers, religious figures, doctors, political and human rights activists" and about 20 people "suspected of or known to have left Bahrain to join ISIS in Iraq and Syria", had their citizenships revoked. The citizenship revocations were discussed on the newly launched al-Arab News Channel on 1 February.[108]

According to Human Rights Watch annual report 2016, Bahraini authorities can revoke the citizenship of any person who involved in helping a hostile state or causing harm to the interests of the kingdom. In January, the minister of interior revoked the citizenship of 72, including former parliamentarians and politicians, claiming that they had been involved in "illegal acts," including "inciting and advocating regime change through illegal means.[109]

In 2017, Bahrain ended its moratorium on the use of the death penalty, and by 2020 had executed six people.[2] As of 2021, there are 27 individuals on death row in the country, with 25 deemed at "imminent risk" of execution according to the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy.[110]

A report by the Human Rights Watch published in October 2022 claimed that despite a de facto moratorium on executions put in place in 2017, executions have continued to take place in Bahrain. Approximately, 51 people were sentenced to death who had exhausted their appeals, even though the Bahraini law is controlled by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. It was possible for the King to ratify the sentences or grant pardons to those sentenced. The report claimed that the Bahraini courts failed on multiple levels to investigate reports of torture or abuse used as a means to coerce confessions as evidence for death sentencing, prohibited under Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).[111]

A Bahraini website blocked

Internet censorship in Bahrain is classified as pervasive in the political and social areas, as substantial in Internet tools, and as selective in conflict/security by the OpenNet Initiative in August 2009.[125] Bahrain was placed on Reporters Without Borders' list of Internet Enemies in 2012.[126]

On 5 January 2009 the Ministry of Culture and Information issued an order (Resolution No 1 of 2009)[127] pursuant to the Telecommunications Law and Press and Publications Law of Bahrain that regulates the blocking and unblocking of websites. This resolution requires all ISPs – among other things – to procure and install a website blocking software solution chosen by the Ministry. The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority ("TRA") assisted the Ministry of Culture and Information in the execution of the said Resolution by coordinating the procurement of the unified website blocking software solution. This software solution is operated solely by the Ministry of Information and Culture and neither the TRA nor ISPs have any control over sites that are blocked or unblocked.

In the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring uprising and crackdown against Shia protest in Bahrain, "dozens" of Shia mosques have been leveled by the government according to a report in McClatchy newspapers. According to Shiite leaders interviewed by the reporter, work crews have often arrived "in the dead of night, accompanied by police and military escorts", to demolish the mosques, and in many cases, have hauled away the buildings' rubble before townspeople awake so as to leave no trace. Sheikh Khalid bin Ali bin Abdulla al Khalifa, the minister of justice and Islamic affairs for Bahrain, defended the demolitions stating: "These are not mosques. These are illegal buildings." However the McClatchy reporter found that photos taken of several mosques before their destruction by the government "showed they were well maintained, decades-old structures."[86]

Bahrain has eight daily newspapers representing a broad section of opinion. In 2002, Al Wasat was set up by Mansoor Al-Jamri, the son of Bahrain's spiritual Shi'a leader, Sheikh Abdul-Amir Al-Jamri and the spokesman of the Bahrain Freedom Movement. The paper is broadly sympathetic to the Shia Islamist opposition, particularly Ali Salman. Akhbar Al Khaleej has traditionally been close to Bahrain's Left and Arab nationalist strands, featuring controversial columnists such as Sameera Rajab. Al Ayam is seen as solidly pro-government, with its proprietor an advisor to the King.

The Press Law 47 of 2002 has been strongly criticised as restrictive as it specifies criminal charges against those who criticise the head of state or Islam, or "threaten national security". However, discussion in the newspapers is often robust with journalists frequently criticising government ministers: for instance one newspaper recently criticised the Minister of Housing, Fahmi Al Jowder, for lavishing "ludicrous praise" on the King.[129]

Liberal intellectuals in the press have faced concerted campaigns against them by Islamists. In 2005, hundreds of Shia Islamists protested outside the Al Ayam's offices after it published a cartoon on Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election victory; while a Sunni Islamist campaign against the paper's editor, Isa Al Shaygi, was condemned at a conference of the International Federation of Journalists: "The vicious and unprovoked attack on a respected and distinguished colleague is an example of the intolerant and undemocratic character of extremist politics that is increasingly being used against the free press."[130]

Various Bahraini liberal intellectuals in Bahrain strongly criticized the Bahraini government for "favoring extremist Islamic religious groups and hastening to respond to their demands at the expense of the interests of many social groups and various sectors of production," and expressed concern "about the course that Bahraini politics is taking in light of the fear of The decline of freedoms and the issuance of Taliban-ish laws that tighten the screws on them."[131]

All broadcast media is owned and managed by the government. In 2005, three website administrators were arrested by security forces.[132]

As such, many political websites and blogs are blocked by the government,[133][134] and as of November 2005 the government requires all Bahraini websites to register with the Ministry of Information.[135] In August 2006, Bahraini government authorities blocked internet access to Google Earth and Google Video.[136][137] Recently they have blocked the popular site anonymous.com[138]

In October 2006, the Criminal Court issued a ban on the publication of any news, information or commentary on the series of allegations in the Bandargate scandal, which has continued to date.[139] In the following weeks, the Ministry of Information ordered Bahraini ISPs to block several websites that violated the ban, include the websites of National Democratic Action (liberal opposition political society), the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights and the Arab Network for Human Rights Information.[140] The block order was accompanied by press statements from the Ministry threatening the website owners with legal action.[141]

In January 2009, Bahrain has started blocking a vastly increased number of sites through the Information Affairs Authority (IAA). The new filtering has had a noticeable impact in internet access speeds for all traffic.

On 31 August 2014, photographer Ahmed Humaidan was condemned to 10 years in prison after covering the 2011 uprising, allegedly for attacking the police.[142]

New political freedoms mean that public political activity and demonstrations are a common occurrence: according to the Ministry of Interior's figures there were 498 street demonstrations in 2006, up from 259 the previous year.[143]

In July 2005, Human Rights Watch said:

Bahrain has been a poster child for political reform in the Middle East, but police attacks like this one are a worrisome trend. [...] Bahrain is growing more repressive in response to peaceful political activism.[144]

Despite this prediction, the European University Institute, in its study of civil society in Bahrain in 2006, Voices in Parliament, Debates in Majalis, Banners on the Street: Avenues of Political Participation in Bahrain, found that:

Demonstrations of all sorts occur on a regular bases – less than common in the region. The laws regulating rallies and demonstrations predate the reforms; a bill for a new one has not yet been passed by parliament. As is the case with press freedom, a general liberal practise without the necessary legal foundation can be assessed. Normally neither the government nor the security forces interfere with demonstrations – unless feeling threatened. This lack of legal certainty is obviously wanted: ‘You have to see what we practice, not what is written in laws. Our practise is very liberal. One also has to see in which part of the world we’re living’ says the then head of the central informatics organisation and now minister of the royal court, Sheikh Mohammed bin Atiyatallah Al Khalifa.[98]

Bahrain is the only country in the Middle East to have sacked a senior government minister as a direct result of a human rights issue. In 2004, when the security forces fired rubber bullets at a demonstration led by Shia religious leaders, King Hamad immediately fired the country's longstanding Interior Minister (and member of the royal family) Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa.[98]

While public demonstrations about various issues regularly take place, they have sometimes resulted in clashes between the police and youths. Fifteen Bahraini Shia activists were arrested between 16 and 20 May May 2007 following clashes the police. Thirteen remain in custody, (as of June 2007) according to the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights. In response to the problem presented by violent protestors, the Serbia-based human rights group, the Centre for Applied Non-Violent Action and Strategies, has been invited to Bahrain to teach demonstrators how to demonstrate peacefully. Under the scheme begun in 2007, peace camps will be set up in various trouble spots where specialists will advise on using protest strategies that do not involve violence. It is expected that a thousand youths will go through the training scheme.[145]

The Interior Ministry had to resist pressure in May 2007 from business leaders to 'crack down' on the rioters, as well as deal with concerns that local residents would take matters into their own hands and deal with the rioters themselves. Concerns about vigilantism resulted in a call by Central Municipal Council vice-chairman Abbas Mahfoodh for closer cooperation between politicians and the Interior Ministry to stamp out rioting, after residents of the town of Tubli confronted and chased away three masked men who allegedly planned to commit acts of sabotage using Molotov cocktail firebombs.[146]

In a report issued in 2006, the "Arab Network for Human Rights Information" (a member of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange) documented two cases of human rights activists being harassed by government authorities, through physical and sexual assaults, and fabricated cases.[147]

Since June 2016, the village of Diraz has been besieged by the Bahraini government. The siege included the Bahraini government from forcibly preventing Shias to perform the congregational Juma (Friday) prayer in the Imam Al-Sadiq Mosque in Diraz.[148]

The Bahraini Penal Code does not enlist a penalty for Apostasy or Atheism explicitly, but since Apostasy is punishable by death in Islam, and since Bahrain's constitution states that Islam is the official religion and that Shari'a (Islamic law) is a principal source for legislation,[149] as such, there is an established state religion where Islamic studies are mandatory in state schools, there is a religious control over family law or legislation on moral matters, Apostasy and Blasphemy are both outlawed and are punishable with a prison sentence,[150] therefore Bahraini citizens born to Muslim parents cannot change their religion legally. Citizens who criticize or mock Islamic scripture can be imprisoned for up to a whole year.[151]

In October 2020, an unidentified female Bahraini citizen who mocked Islamic scripture on Twitter, was reported which got her subsequently arrested.[151]

In September 2022, Sheikh Abdul Rahman bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Khalifa, Chairman of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs in Bahrain, said during his participation in Bashkortostan's celebrations of the 11th anniversary of the introduction of Islam: "There is no doubt that you have followed and are following with pride the pioneering role of Muslim peoples and major Islamic institutions around the world in confronting campaigns to spread atheism and moral decay and threaten families, communities and values.”[152]

Bahraini human rights groups say "hundreds of women have been detained" in recent weeks prior to 30 May 2011, "the first time in the wave of protests sweeping the Arab world that large groups of women have been targeted".[159]

In March 2021, Human Rights Watch and Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy claimed that children aged between 11 and 17 were being held by Bahrain police over protest-related cases since mid-February 2020. The children were unnecessarily detained during the 10th anniversary of the 2011 pro-democracy uprising. The groups claimed that the children were beaten and threatened with rape and electric shocks by the Bahraini security forces.[160] A 13-year-old child was hit on his head, while the police continued with the threats to rape him, give him electric shocks from a car battery, and beat his genitals. Prosecutors and police barred the parents and lawyers of children from being present during the interrogations as children were terrorized into confessing.[161]

A 15-year-old boy, Hussein Sayed Taher, was arbitrarily arrested at the age of 12 and sentenced to 8 years in prison. He went on a hunger strike in August 2021 as he was being ill-treated by Bahraini authorities.[162]

On 7 February 2022, the Human Rights Watch and Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) said that the Bahrain authorities detained six children, aged 14 and 15, without any written justification. They were being held in a child welfare facility. The authorities denied the parents’ requests to visit their children and to be present during their interrogations. The children's alleged offences occurred in December 2020 or January 2021, when they were 13 and 14. The Office of the Public Prosecution alleged that the boys damaged a car near a police station by throwing Molotov cocktails.[163]

Homosexuality is not illegal per se. Criminal sanctions against LGBT people in Bahrain tend to come from several very broadly written laws against perceived "immorality".

According to Human Rights Watch,[29] in as of 2011 there were more than 458,000 guest workers in Bahrain, many of whom experience prolonged periods of withheld wages, passport confiscation, unsafe housing, excessive work hours and physical abuse.[1] Government protective measures are "largely ineffective."[1][171]

In August 2009 Bahrain adopted Decision 79/2009 permitting guest workers, except for domestics, more freedom to change jobs.[1] According to Human Rights Watch, as of 2011 many workers were unaware of this right.[1]

In 2007, government passed legislation to ban construction and other outdoor work between noon and 4 pm during the summer – the hottest times of the day. The vast majority of those involved in this type of work being expatriate labourers from the Indian sub-continent. The move was backed by a "massive" labour inspection campaign by the Ministry of Labour to ensure that companies obeyed the decision. The ban was criticized by construction companies saying that the government's decision would delay their projects, but according to the Ministry of Labour, migrant workers' protection representatives and human rights activities have welcomed the move.[172]

An ICFTU Annual Report 2006 found that "Foreign workers harshly treated":

There are a large number of foreign workers and, while in theory they are allowed to join unions and run for union office, they mainly prefer to stay out of union activities as they have no protection against dismissal. According to the proposed legislation, if expatriate workers overstay their work permits, they suffer heavy fines, are imprisoned for unspecified lengths of time and then deported. The government admitted that the new law would not give domestic servants any employment rights, but contained measures that would protect them against abuse from employers.[166][173]

Bahrain is considered a Tier 2 country on the US State Department Trafficking in Persons report, the second highest tier, and indicated that Bahrain "does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking," but is "making significant efforts to do so."[174]