The human rights situation in Bahrain continued to deteriorate in May 2018. 1272 serious human rights violations were observed between the 1st and 31st of May 2018, including arbitrary arrests, house raids, unfair trials, crackdown on peaceful protests, restrictions on freedom of movement, prohibition of Friday prayers, media materials that incite hate speech, torture, ill-treatment, injuries, destruction or confiscation of property and violation of freedom of religion and belief.

The total violations were distributed as follows: 56 cases of arbitrary arrests, including 11 children and 2 women; 262 citizens received arbitrary sentences, which amounted in total to 2145 years and 6 months in prison and BD 8200, equivalent to approximately US $21808, of total fines and bails; 51 cases of torture and ill-treatment, including 4 cases of deprivation of treatment; 330 media materials that incite hate speech; 88 illegal raids on houses and residential facilities; 72 crackdowns on peaceful gatherings and protests; 344 individuals who were arrested or accused were referred to court because of trials that violate freedom of expression and peaceful assembly; violation of freedom of movement by the continuation of the siege on Duraz area for 709 days and the imposition of house arrest on the highest religious authority for the Shiite Muslims in Bahrain, Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim, for 372 days without a judicial order or administrative decision; violation of freedom of religion and belief by prohibiting Friday prayer in Duraz 4 times in May, bringing the number of prohibitions to 98 times since 2016; 2 case of illegal confiscation of property; and 2 cases of destruction of property.

In May, Bahrain witnessed 252 protests, while since the beginning of the year the number of protests has reached 1692 even though there has been a complete ban on peaceful assembly for 1338 days. The number of arbitrary arrests since the beginning of the year has reached 423, including 66 children. Since 2012, the nationalities of 741 citizens have been revoked for political reasons. Moreover, since the beginning of the year, 526 illegal raids on houses and residential facilities have been conducted; 707 Bahraini citizens, including 5 women and 5 children, have been arbitrarily convicted; total sentences have amounted to 5034 years and 15 months in prison, in addition to a suspended 3-year jail term; total fines imposed on the arbitrarily convicted have amounted to US$ 1,041,084; and 135 sentences of revocation of nationalities at several levels of litigation, 10 sentences of arbitrary deportation and 14 death sentences have been issued. The total number of human rights violations that occurred in January, February, March, April and May are 6788.