Senior member of the National Democratic Action Society (Wa'ad); peaceful advocate for democratic reform in Bahrain.
Since 2011, Bahraini authorities have arrested or prosecuted Ebrahim Sharif at least ten times for exercising his right to freedom of expression.HuMENA Editorial
Ebrahim Sharif is a senior member of Bahrain's National Democratic Action Society. Since 2011 he has been arrested at least ten times for peaceful political speech and criticism of government policy. He is serving his latest six-month sentence for comments he made on LuaLua TV.
Ebrahim Sharif is a senior member of the National Democratic Action Society (Wa'ad), one of Bahrain's licensed opposition groups. For more than a decade he has advocated for democratic reform through public speeches, social media commentary, and participation in peaceful political gatherings. His activism forms part of the pro-democracy movement that emerged during Bahrain's 2011 uprising. His work has remained consistently nonviolent.
In 2011 Sharif participated in peaceful protests calling for political reform. He was arrested and held incommunicado for months. During this period he was subjected to torture and other forms of ill-treatment, including sleep deprivation, beatings, and sexual abuse. He was denied access to family members prior to his first court appearance. A special military court sentenced him to five years in prison. He was released on 19 June 2015.
Three weeks after his 2015 release, Sharif was arrested again for delivering a peaceful speech critical of government policies. Authorities accused him of inciting hatred and encouraging the overthrow of the government. He was released one year later and placed under a travel ban.
In November 2016 he was arrested after telling the Associated Press that a visit by Prince Charles risked whitewashing Bahrain's crackdown on dissent. Charges were dropped two weeks later, but he was rearrested in March 2017 on similar accusations related to social media posts. Between 2017 and November 2025 he was prosecuted or arrested at least three additional times — in 2019, 2023, and 2024 — each time in connection with peaceful expression on social media.
On 12 November 2025 Sharif was arrested at Bahrain International Airport upon his return from Beirut, where he had attended the Arab National Conference. The Ministry of Interior announced that he had been detained for spreading false news on social media and uttering phrases offensive to Arab states and their leadership. The following day the Public Prosecution ordered his detention pending investigation.
On 8 January 2026 the Lower Criminal Court sentenced him to six months in prison and imposed a fine of 200 Bahraini dinars. The conviction relates to an interview he gave to LuaLua TV in Beirut, in which he criticized Arab governments for failing to support Palestinians and for normalizing relations with Israel. According to a Public Prosecution statement on Instagram, Sharif allegedly made false and offensive statements about Arab states, accusing them of collusion and calling on their populations to resist their governments.
This is at least the tenth time since 2011 that Bahraini authorities have arrested, interrogated, or prosecuted Sharif for peaceful political expression.
The recurring use of broadly worded national security laws — including charges of inciting hatred, spreading false news, and offending foreign states — demonstrates the absence of effective safeguards for freedom of expression in Bahrain. Sharif's 2011 trial before a military court violated international fair-trial standards. The repeated prosecutions for speech-related offenses constitute a pattern of judicial harassment aimed at deterring him from engaging in political activity.
This case file was compiled by HuMENA's Bahrain research team from primary documentation, public filings, family-supplied legal documents, and confidential partner reporting. Editorial responsibility rests with the HuMENA Editorial Board. Where dates or facts are uncertain, the record errs on the side of the source material and notes uncertainty in the live archive at humena.org.
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