February 9th, 2012

In 2011, after the authorities cracked down on protests in the Pearl Roundabout, King of Bahrain announced the National Safety Law (Emergency Law), and Bahrain has gone through serious violations of human rights.

Weeks before the first anniversary of the protests, the specter of the National Safety Law – Emergency Law – back again:

1) According to information the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR), authorities arrested more than 100 people since last January, during the arrest, the security forces, and forces in civilian clothes – masked men – stormed the house and did not show the permission of the Attorney General.The BYSHR documented allegations of torture.

New York, February 9, 2012--Bahrain has rejected at least six journalists' applications for entry visas ahead of the anniversary of antigovernment protests that swept the country in February 2011, according to news reports. The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities to allow journalists into the country to carry out their work freely.

Several international journalists wrote on Twitter over the past two days that their visa applications had been denied.

Beirut, 09 February, 2012 --- Courageous defender of human rights and the main founder of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, announced from jaw prison, on Wednesday, 8 February, 2012, that he begins an indefinite hunger strike. The distinguished human rights defender told his family in a telephone call, that he is starting a hunger strike to "freedom or death."

February 7, 2012

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Bahrain.

New Information:

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the ongoing judicial harassment faced by Mr. Mohamed Issa Al Tajer, a prominent human rights lawyer.

FEBRUARY 8, 2012
BY SARA YASIN

Yesterday, Bahraini authorities denied visas to a number foreign journalists ahead of the anniversary of Bahrain’s 14 February uprising. Journalists from the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, the Wall Street Journal, the BBC, Associated Foreign Press, and Al-Jazeera English were all denied visas “due to the high volume of applications”. Local activists expect a violent crackdown on 14 February, as protesters have vowed to return to the now closed Pearl Roundabout.

Its Government Has Yet to Deliver on Accountability, Reforms

FEBRUARY 8, 2012

(Washington, DC) - The Obama administration’s decision to move forward on a $1 million arms sale to Bahrain sends the wrong signal to a country that is engaged in serious human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch said today.

“Bahrain has made many promises to cease abuses and hold officials accountable, but it hasn’t delivered,” said Maria McFarland, deputy Washington director at Human Rights Watch. “Protesters remain jailed on criminal charges for peacefully speaking out and there has been little accountability for torture and killings – crimes in which the Bahrain Defense Force is implicated.”

08 Feb 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, that he would begin a hunger strike from today (February 8, 2012).

Mr.AlKhawaja said in a telephone call to his family, “Freedom or Death”, which means he started an open hunger strike until his release.

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 7, 2012

Washington, DC – Today, a number of prominent journalists have reported on Twitter that they have been denied access to Bahrain in the run-up to the anniversary of the pro-democracy protests on February 14.

Nick Kristof and Adam Ellick of the New York Times, Gregg Carlstrom of Al Jazeera, Cara Swift of the BBC and Kristen Chick of the Christian Science Monitor are among those who have been denied entry to Bahrain. This media shut out comes just days after international human rights monitors, including Human Rights First’s Brian Dooley, were denied entry to Bahrain.

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