Civil society and human rights defenders continue to be prosecuted and harassed in Bahrain, and violations of the rights to freedom of association, assembly and expression are frequently reported. Despite prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab’s release from prison mid-2020, trumped-up charges against him have not yet been dropped and he remains subjected to a travel ban. In 2017, Bahrain put an end to a seven-year de facto moratorium on the death penalty by executing three civilians, and has executed six people since then. Twenty-seven people are currently on death row.
Over the past ten years, FIDH and its Bahraini member organisations have regularly engaged with EU institutions and Member States to inform them about ongoing human right violations in the country. In their latest resolution, the European Parliament echoed our organisations’ calls to mainstream human rights across all areas of cooperation with Bahrain. The sustained mobilisation of the international community is essential to meaningfully improve the human rights situation in the country.