Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB)

On the one-year anniversary of the death of popular Cambodian activist Kem Ley, civil society organisations from around the world reiterated their call for an independent inquiry.

Ms. Ebtesam al-Saegh has been a vital advocate for human rights in Bahrain at a time when voicing such opinions inside the country has become extraordinarily dangerous.

NGOs around the world ask authorities to stop campaigns of repression against HRDs and civil society organisations in the Middle East and North Africa region

Editor Mansoor al-Jamri described the sudden closure as a “total surprise” and said that the newspaper was denied due process. The Government of Bahrain has reportedly failed to provide Al-Wasat with any means of recourse, leaving it without a clear understanding of how to proceed in the face of its indeterminate suspension.

As President Trump visited Saudi Arabia, repression hit new highs throughout the Middle East. But, though the level of repression to stamp out dissent may be new, the excuse was a very familiar one.

Jailing human rights activists for years or decades is nothing new for Saudi Arabia. But the Gulf nation is outdoing itself lately, as it lets dissenters stay in jail well beyond their original sentences.

What do you do when the world is about to assess your human rights record? If you are Bahrain, you jail activists, human rights defenders, journalists and lawyers, of course.

The justice ministry’s case against Wa’ad, the country’s largest secular, leftist opposition society, is representative of the government’s ongoing suppression of Bahraini political and civil society space.