Country portrait
Bahrain
Gulf · Arabian Peninsula
Tracking the persecution of human rights defenders, mass denationalization, and supporting Bahraini activists in exile.
Scroll
Our position on Bahrain
We call for the release of human rights defenders and political prisoners in Bahrain, the restoration of citizenship to those denationalized for peaceful activism, and an end to the targeting of Bahraini defenders in exile.
— HuMENA
The Region, Connected
No country in MENA stands alone.
This country sits at the centre of the threads HuMENA follows — across borders where defenders flee, refugees move, and accountability converges.
Signature
Where our work concentrates here.
Five strategic areas — Civic Space, Defenders, Digital Rights, Governance, Diaspora. Bar height shows the depth of HuMENA's coverage in that area for this country.
Civic Space
Defending freedoms of expression, association, and peaceful assembly.
Defenders
Protection support and case advocacy for defenders at risk.
Digital Rights
Surveillance accountability and digital safety for civil society.
Governance
Fair-trial monitoring, judicial independence, and inclusive governance.
Diaspora
Cross-border protection and amplification of exiled voices.
Chronicle
A working record of our interventions.
Statements, reports, advocacy moments, defender cases. Chronological. Growing.
Dec 2025
PRESS RELEASES
Nov 2025
JOINT STATEMENTS
May 2025
JOINT STATEMENTS
Mar 2025
JOINT STATEMENTS
May 2024
JOINT STATEMENTS
Apr 2023
JOINT STATEMENTS
Dec 2021
JOINT STATEMENTS
Apr 2021
JOINT STATEMENTS
Jan 2021
JOINT STATEMENTS
May 2020
JOINT STATEMENTS
At the international level
Where this work meets the institutions.
HuMENA carries documentation into the mechanisms with the most leverage — UN bodies, EU institutions, and joint civil-society coalitions.
UN HRC
Joint statements on defenders
UN Special Procedures
Communications on cases
EU Parliament
Resolutions and briefings
Defenders
The people behind the work.
HuMENA stands with human rights defenders, journalists, lawyers, and activists. Where their identities can be public, we credit them. Where they cannot, we protect them.
Imprisoned
Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja
Human rights defender and co-founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and the Gulf Centre for Human Rights; advocate for accountability, torture survivors, and democratic reform in Bahrain.
Co-founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, sentenced to life in prison after the 2011 uprising. Tortured, sexually assaulted, and held…
ImprisonedAbduljalil Al-Singace
Academic, blogger and human rights defender
Bahraini academic and human rights defender serving life imprisonment since 2011. On a liquid-only hunger strike since July 2021 in protest at…
ImprisonedAJ
Ahmed Jaafar
Labour rights activist; advocate for workers' rights and the Shia minority in Bahrain.
Ahmed Jaafar is a Bahraini labour activist serving life imprisonment after Serbia forcibly extradited him in January 2022 despite a binding European…
DetainedAA
Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed Ali
Protester and exile targeted by Bahrain's transnational repression apparatus following the 2011 uprising.
Ahmed Jaafar Mohamed Ali was extradited from Serbia to Bahrain in 2021 despite a binding European Court order. Convicted in absentia after…
Under TNRAS
Ahmed Shihab-Eldin
US-Kuwaiti journalist covering Middle East affairs and human rights.
Ahmed Shihab-Eldin was detained for 52 days after posting verified footage of a US military jet crash in Kuwait, then stripped of…
Released (conditional)AH
Ali Al Hajee
Individual prosecuted for social media criticism of Formula 1 testing in Bahrain.
Ali Al Hajee was arrested in March 2025 after posting criticism of Formula 1 testing in Bahrain on social media. He was…
Publications
Reports, statements, and analyses.
HuMENA at HRC61: Advocacy on Digital Rights and Civic Space in MENA
On Human Rights Day 2025: Civic Space in the Middle East and North Africa under Systematic and Sustained Pressure
Bahrain | UN Committee against Torture must call out the absence of accountability for grave human rights violations
Bahrain | Joint Letter on Human Rights Situation to Member and Observer States of the United Nations Human Rights Council
On International Women’s Day, 23 NGOs Urge Bahrain’s King to Grant Bahraini Mothers Equal Nationality Rights
Bahrain’s Failure to Uphold UPR Commitments: A Deepening Crisis of Compliance
Bahrain’s Death Penalty Cases: Judicial Complicity in Human Rights Violations
Statelessness in Bahrain: Its Effect on Identity and Belonging
Behind the Facade: Understanding Human Rights Challenges in Bahrain
Egypt: Immediately and unconditionally release prominent political activist Mohamed Adel
Consultancy Opportunities: Join HuMENA in Jordan and Bahrain
Bahrain| Abdulhadi Alkhawaja – 63 Years of Struggle, 13 Years Behind Bars
Get our Bahrain briefings — concise, evidence-led, never marketing.