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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-