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signing confessions. Witnesses called by the 

prosecution also said that they had been 

threatened by police into incriminating MUM 

defendants. The forced testimonies were 

admitted by court and used by the 

prosecution throughout the trial.

Elgiz Garhaman, a NIDA Youth movement 

activist, was sentenced to five and a half 

years in prison on fabricated drug-related 

charges following an unfair trial. He was 

denied access to lawyers of his choice, and 

kept incommunicado for a week following his 

detention. During the trial, he told the judge 

the police had beaten, threatened and 

humiliated him into signing a confession. The 

judge refused to order an investigation into 

his allegations, dismissing them as 

groundless.

On 1 December, the amendments to the 

Code of Civil and Administrative Procedure 

excluded lawyers without Bar Association 

(Collegium of Lawyers) membership from 

court proceedings.

DEATHS IN CUSTODY

The authorities repeatedly failed to promptly 

and effectively investigate reported deaths in 

custody.

On 4 May, the ECtHR ruled that the 

Azerbaijani government violated the right to 

life of Mahir Mustafayev for its failure to 

protect his life while in custody and to 

conduct an effective investigation into the 

circumstances of his death. Mahir 

Mustafayev died from his burns caused by a 

fire in his cell in December 2006.

On 28 April, activist and blogger Mehman 

Qalandarov was found hanged in his prison 

cell in Kurdakhani. Police arrested him on 

drug-related charges for his Facebook posts 

in support of two other activists who had 

been arrested for spraying political graffiti. 

According to local human rights defenders, 

Mehman Qalandarov had been tortured and 

was buried in secret to conceal the evidence. 

The prison administration announced his 

death on 29 April, and an investigation was 

ongoing at the end of the year.

BAHRAIN

Kingdom of Bahrain

Head of state: King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa

Head of government: Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman al-

Khalifa

The government launched a large-scale 

campaign to clamp down on all forms of 

dissent by repressing the rights to freedom 

of expression and association of human 

rights defenders and government critics. 

This campaign was marked by travel bans; 

the arrest, interrogation and arbitrary 

detention of human rights defenders; the 

dissolution of the opposition group Waad 

and the closure of the newspaper al-Wasat; 

as well as the continued imprisonment of 

opposition leaders. Scores of people were 

sentenced to long prison terms after unfair 

trials. Authorities stripped at least 150 

people of their Bahraini nationality, 

rendering the majority stateless. Mass 

protests were met with excessive force, 

resulting in the deaths of five men and one 

child and the injury of hundreds. 

Executions resumed after a hiatus of nearly 

seven years.

BACKGROUND

Bahrain joined Saudi Arabia, the UAE and 

Egypt in severing ties with Qatar. Bahrain 

remained part of the Saudi Arabia-led 

coalition engaged in armed conflict in Yemen 

(see Yemen entry).

In January, Decree 1 of 2017 authorized the 

National Security Agency (NSA) to conduct 

arrests and interrogations in cases linked to 

“terrorist crimes”, reversing a Bahrain 

Independent Commission of Inquiry 

recommendation. In April, the King reversed 

another such recommendation by ratifying a 

constitutional amendment that re-enabled 

military courts to try civilians. In December, 

six men were sentenced to death in the first 

trial of civilians by a military court, which 

had begun in October. In June, Bahrain’s 

lower house approved a decree ending 

retirement rights and benefits of those who 

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had their citizenship revoked, or who lost or 

were granted foreign citizenship without 

permission.

In March, the US administration approved 

the sale to Bahrain of new F-16 fighter jets 

and upgrades for older jets, which under the 

previous US administration had been 

conditional on the improvement of human 

rights in Bahrain.

International NGOs, including Amnesty 

International, and journalists critical of 

Bahrain, were denied access to Bahrain 

throughout the year.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

Freedom of expression remained severely 

restricted throughout the year. The authorities 

arrested, detained, interrogated and 

prosecuted human rights defenders, political 

activists and Shi’a clerics who expressed 

criticism of government policies, or criticism 

of Saudi Arabia or the Saudi-led coalition in 

Yemen. The government announced that it 

would be illegal to express sympathy with 

Qatar following the severance of ties in June, 

and arrested and detained one lawyer on that 

basis. Human rights defenders and 

opposition leaders arbitrarily detained in 

previous years for their peaceful opposition 

remained held as prisoners of conscience.

In May, human rights defender Ebtisam al-

Saegh was arrested and interrogated in NSA 

custody, during which she said she was 

tortured, including by being sexually 

assaulted. She was arrested again in July and 

remanded in custody for a further six months 

pending completion of the investigation. She 

was released in October without knowing the 

legal status of the case against her. In July, 

human rights defender Nabeel Rajab was 

sentenced to two years in prison for 

“spreading false information and rumours 

with the aim of discrediting the state”. The 

sentence was upheld on appeal in 

November.

The media continued to be restricted and 

journalists were targeted. The only 

independent newspaper in Bahrain, al-

Wasat, was temporarily suspended and then 

shut down after it reported on protests in 

Morocco. In May, journalist Nazeeha Saeed 

was convicted for working without renewing 

her press licence, issued by the Information 

Affairs Authority, and fined 1,000BD 

(USD2,650). The court of appeal upheld the 

fine in July.

FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION

The authorities maintained undue restrictions 

on freedom of association. Leaders of al-

Wefaq and other opposition parties remained 

in detention and political activists and 

members of opposition parties were 

harassed. Several political activists and 

members of opposition parties reported that 

they were threatened, tortured or otherwise 

ill-treated by NSA agents in May.

In February, the dissolution of al-Wefaq was 

upheld by the Court of Cassation. In March, 

the Minister of Justice filed a lawsuit against 

the secular opposition group Waad for 

violating the Law on Political Associations. In 

May, the High Administrative Court ordered 

the dissolution of Waad and the liquidation of 

its assets. In October the Appeal Court 

upheld the verdict.

Opposition leaders and prisoners of 

conscience Sheikh Ali Salman and Fadhel 

Abbas Mahdi Mohamed remained arbitrarily 

detained. In April, Sheikh Ali Salman’s prison 

sentence was reduced to four years; in 

November he was charged with spying for 

Qatar in 2011, which he denied, and at the 

end of the year his trial was ongoing. In 

March, former Secretary General of Waad, 

Ebrahim Sharif, was charged over a series of 

posts on Twitter, including an Amnesty 

International graphic and a tweet criticizing 

the lack of democracy in Bahrain.

FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY

Protests remained banned in the capital, 

Manama, and the authorities used 

unnecessary and excessive force to disperse 

protests. Peaceful protesters continued to be 

arrested and detained on charges of “illegal 

gathering”. In January, mostly peaceful mass 

protests took place in 20 villages following the 

execution of three men. In Duraz, security 

forces used live ammunition and semi-

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