Bahrain Center for Human Rights

Hundreds of Bahraini anti-regime protesters took to the streets of Manama on 25 January 2013 and were met with excessive force despite the regime’s announced plans for political dialogue involving members of the opposition.

Bahraini photojournalist Ahmed Humaidan, who was kidnapped and detained in late December 2012, was recently subjected to psychological torture while being interrogated and was forced to confess to a crime he claims he did not commit.

In a letter to the US President, 40 human rights organisations called for US support to release 13 Bahrainis, unjustly jailed by the Bahraini government, one of the strongest allies of the US in the region.

Ahmed Humaidan, a 25-year-old renowned and award-winning Bahraini photographer, has been kidnapped by 15 security officers and is currently in detention.

Said Yousif Al-Muhafdah, Acting Vice President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, has been arrested again for attending a peaceful protest to monitor and document the situation.

Zainab Al-Khawaja was jailed for a week after staging a one-person protest outside Salmaniya hospital, demanding visitation rights for an injured citizen. She was then imprisoned for one month in a separate case, out of more than 13 cases against her.

Leading human rights defender Nabeel Rajab’s three-year jail sentence, handed to him as a result of advocating peaceful demonstrations, was reduced to two years.

While some Bahraini opposition members’ sentences have been reduced, approximately 200 Bahrainis involved with the Islamic Action Society are still in prison.