09 Feb 2012

The General Secretary of (National Union of Teachers), UK's largest teacher's union, has written to the British Ambassador in Bahrain to call for release of detained Bahrain teachers and request UK's diplomatic representatives in Bahrain attend the appeals on 19th February. You can view the letter here.

February 6, 2012

Washington, DC – Escalating attacks on civilians, fresh reports of torture in custody, and a decision by the Bahraini government to block independent human rights observers from entering the kingdom mark a “gathering storm” of renewed unrest ahead of protests on the first anniversary of the Bahrain uprising on Feb. 14.

In a new Human Rights First report issued today, the organization urged the United States to take immediate steps to publicly call for an end to ongoing violence in Bahrain

07-02-2012 Interview
(Source: icrc.org)

In connection with the violence that erupted in Bahrain a year ago, resulting in numerous arrests, the ICRC has started visiting detainees in the country. Gerard Peytrignet, head of the ICRC regional delegation in Kuwait, explains.

What is the aim of the ICRC's visits to detainees in Bahrain?

The main objective of our visits to detainees – whether in Bahrain or elsewhere in the world – is to monitor their conditions of detention and their treatment and bring about improvements where necessary.

2 February 2012

FIDH expresses its utmost concern about acts of continued repression on political prisoners that have entered in a hunger strike to protest their continued arbitrary detention as well as the deteriorating human rights situation in the country.

FIDH has been informed that around 250 political prisoners started a widespread national hunger strike on January 29, 2012, after the prominent 14 political and human rights activists, who were arbitrarily detained since March 2011 [1], announced they will begin a hunger strike in the central Jaw prison.

(ANHRI/IFEX) – 1 February 2012 – Today, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) denounced the Bahraini authorities for restricting freedom of expression and media freedoms. In its session on 30 January, the Bahraini Cassation Court upheld the ruling of the military court in the case of activist Fadeelah Mubarak, who was sentenced to 18 months in prison for participating in peaceful protests and listening to anti-regime songs. In addition, media professional Waheed Alballoushy is also on trial today in the lower criminal court. Female journalist Reem Khalifa will stand trial tomorrow, 2 February.

January 30, 2012

Washington, DC – The United States Government should explain what’s behind fresh reports of military sales to Bahrain and publicly condemn the Kingdom’s ongoing crackdown in the run-up to the February 14 anniversary of the Bahrain uprising, said Human Rights First in a statement today.

“It appears that the Bahrain regime is conducting pre-emptive strikes as the anniversary nears,” said Human Rights First’s Brian Dooley. “Meanwhile, there are new reports that the U.S. intends to go ahead with a military transfer to Bahrain.”

31 January 2012: In November 2011, the Governing Body of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) agreed to a proposal to establish a tripartite committee to review the mass dismissal of Bahraini workers referred to in the complaint concerning the Non-Observance by Bahrain of the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958.

In a letter to the chair of that commission, the ITUC acknowledged progress in the public sector but expressed its serious concerns regarding the failure of employers, largely in state-owned companies, to reinstate many wrongfully dismissed workers or to rehire the workers only under completely unacceptable conditions.

30 Jan 2012 -

Over the weekend, the U.S. Administration chose to move forward with the sale of military equipment to Bahrain, despite the fact that tear gas assaults on minority Shi’a neighborhoods recently took the life of a 6-day-old girl and a 14-year-old boy. Such a sale, even if it does not include weapons, sends the wrong message to the people of Bahrain who are protesting government oppression. Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) calls on the U.S. government to unequivocally oppose violent government crackdowns and not reward governments with arms and military supplies when they are oppressing their own people.

January 31st, 2012

The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) has just learned that human rights defender and previous MENA Coordinator for Frontline Defenders, Mr.Abdulhadi Alkhawaja, was transferred to the hospital after a drop in his sugar level and blood pressure.

Mr. Alkhawaja, along with other detained activists and political leaders, are on their second day of hunger strike in protest to the deteriorating human rights situation in the country

30 January 2012

The Bahraini authorities must release the first woman activist to be convicted over her involvement in last year's pro-reform demonstrations, Amnesty International said today after a court rejected her appeal and upheld her prison sentence.

Fadhila Mubarak's 18-month prison sentence for protesting and listening to "revolutionary" music was today upheld by the Court of Cassation in the capital, Manama.