Conclusionsand Recommendations

The reportand its monitoring of the human rights situation of 2018 revealed thatviolations have continued and escalated in Bahrain on more than one level. Thisemphasizes that Bahrain's human rights record has become darker than that ofthe previous years, especially after tightening the security grip against theopposition in Bahrain, dissolving the remaining political associations,prosecuting political and human rights activists, media professionals andphotographers for practicing their legitimate work and activities andexercising their right to freedom of expression, and prosecuting protesters anddemonstrators and using the law to punish them through measures andprosecutions that lack the principles of fair trials.

The reviewof events, including the statements and unfair trials, indicated the size ofviolations against protesters and activists in various fields. For example,some cases have been tried in courts that lack the most basic standards of fairtrials, based on official narrations that are unfounded in most cases. Thereport also monitored other violations, such as arbitrary arrests, torture, ill-treatment,enforced disappearances, unlawful raids, excessive use of force againstprotesters, prevalence of hate speech in state-owned media and others.

Observing anumber of summonses and prosecutions indicated the extent to which laws areused to punish protesters and activists, in particular the Anti-Terrorism Law, theuse of which contributes to the torture, ill-treatment, arbitrary detention andenforced disappearance of detainees. In addition, the government’s policy –which provides protection to those involved in the crimes of torture and abuses,and punishes those who attempt to accuse security members of torture and abuse– is a key factor in the perpetuation of such violations.

Moreover, aspart of the restriction on political and human rights activities, the Bahrainigovernment took many legislative measures. It enacted legislations and amendedsome laws to restrict freedom of political activity.

Arbitraryarrests

As for theindex of arrests by month, January had the highest number of arrests observedin 2018, with 155 arrests, including 11 children. March was the second in thenumber of arbitrary arrests, which amounted to 118, including 31 children andone woman. It was the month with the highest number of children’s arrests.September was also one of the months that had a high number of arrests,amounting to 101 arrests, including 9 children. The number of arrests in theother months varied.

As for thearrests of children, they continued throughout the year at a different pace,with almost no month going by without arrests of children. A total of 139children were arbitrary arrested. The number of arrests of children increasedin March, in which a security campaign resulted in the arrest of 31 childrenfrom different areas of Bahrain. In addition, in November, a security campaignresulted in the arrest of 20 children from different areas of Bahrain.

There weredifferent forms of arrests in 2018, including arrests on the street, by houseraids, by summonses for wanted persons, from a checkpoint, from the building ofthe Public Prosecution, from Bahrain Airport and from King Fahd Causeway. Inaddition, some individuals handed themselves in after raids on their homes, andthere were other cases whose method of arrest was unknown.

EnforcedDisappearance

In Bahrain,the security authorities, in many cases, refuse to disclose the location wherethe detainees are held or the reason for their detention for days and in somecases for weeks, and do not allow them to contact their families or lawyers,which can be considered enforced disappearance.

In addition,not revealing the fate or whereabouts of detainees not only is an act thatcould be considered enforced disappearance, but also increases the risk oftorture and ill-treatment of detainees and other violations that may compromisethe security and dignity of persons.

In 2018,enforced disappearances in Bahrain included 207 cases, including 29 childrenunder the age of 18, and the duration of enforced disappearances ranged from 3to 65 days. Most cases were forcibly disappeared for more than 10 days, andwere deprived contact with the outside world or with a lawyer, and in manycases, the place of detention was unknown.

Unfairtrials

The sentenceshanded down to defendants in politically-motivated cases in Bahrain have variedbetween imprisonment, revocation of nationality, life sentences, deathsentences, deportation from Bahrain and fines, many of which came under the Lawon the Protection of Society from Terrorist Acts; in addition, civilians havebeen tried in military courts.

The sum ofprison sentences amounted to 3958 years and 118 months. 331 sentences ofrevocation of nationality, 129 life sentences, 29 death sentences and 10 deportationsentences – although Bahrain's constitution prohibits deporting citizens fromBahrain or denying them access to it – were handed down. Fines amounted to BD1,273,376.00 and bail for suspension of sentences amounted to BD 27,700.00.

The numberof cases that have been prosecuted and sentenced in this year reached 1155cases, with a rise in the number of trials in the High Criminal Court by 562cases, and in a similar manner, the number of defendants tried before the Courtof Appeal amounted to 393 cases. At a lower rate, 112 cases were tried beforethe Lower Criminal Court, while the number of civilians tried in militarycourts amounted to 13 in the Military Court of Appeal and 13 in the MilitaryCourt of Cassation.

The numberof people sentenced to death in Bahrain in 2018 is 29; they are at differentlevels of litigation. Others’ sentences were commuted to life in prison. It isworth mentioning that Bahraini laws contain more than 83 articles that providefor the death penalty, and some of them are too broad and can be interpreted inmore than one way. They also do not specify the criminal act accurately, andmany of these laws have been used to prosecute participants in protests since2011.

The humanrights monitoring of the revocation of Bahraini nationality indicates thatsince 2012, 837 persons have been stripped of their nationalities, including 331persons in 2018. In most cases, these individuals havebecome stateless, and some have been forcibly deported from Bahrain, in a clearviolation of the Constitution, which prohibits deporting citizens and preventingthem from coming back. 2018 is considered the year with the largest number ofcitizenship revocations.

Raids

Themonitoring of the human rights situation in Bahrain shows that in many cases,the security forces do not respect the sanctity of houses guaranteed by theConstitution and the law. The raids often involve violations and variousmethods of inhumane practices and irresponsible actions by security forcesagainst citizens.

In addition,the majority of the raids take place very late at night or almost at dawn betweenone and five o'clock in the morning. In certain cases, the security forcescover their faces with masks in an attempt to hide their identity, whichsuggests that the measures taken during the raid are illegal.

In manycases, the security officers leading the raids or the security forces do notidentify themselves legally. Moreover, in many cases, the raids are carried outwithout presenting a court order to enter or search the house, which is a clearviolation of Article 25 of the Bahraini Constitution and of the Code ofCriminal Procedure.

In some cases,the security forces break the doors and deliberately destroy the property andpossessions in the house, causing fear and terror to the family members, which violatesarticle 17 (1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights andarticle 207 of the Bahraini Penal Code.

The numberof raids on residential homes and private establishments reached 1056, inaddition to many other raids that were not monitored. The residential areaswere raided 5226 times. Several areas are continuously raided; large numbers ofsecurity armored vehicles and police vehicles enter these residential areas ina terrorizing unjustified manner.

In additionto the ongoing violations, the continuation of the government's approach topursuing political, human rights and media activity is manifested in a numberof illegal measures, including depriving and stripping citizens of theircitizenship, banning all forms of demonstrations and gatherings and usingexcessive force against them, and prosecuting participants in peacefulgatherings, especially prominent figures.

Tortureand ill-treatment

The numberof cases related to torture and ill-treatment monitored in 2018 is 791,including 4 cases of deprivation of education. The cases also included 33 casesof child abuse and 40 cases of ill-treatment against women.

Ill-treatmenttops the list of violations related to physical and mental torture, with 539cases monitored. Deprivation of treatment comes in second place, but at a highrate, with 184 cases prevented from receiving treatment and health care. Casesof torture that were monitored were 64.

Theprevalence of various forms of abuse in prisons and detention centers confirmsBahrain's failure to comply with its international obligations to establish thenecessary measures provided for in international and national law to preventtorture and ill-treatment. The policy of impunity and the lack of judicial supervisionover places of detention make these patterns and forms of abuse spread inBahrain’s prisons. Many of the abuses take place during or before interrogationto pressure detainees to confess against themselves or against other detainees,and these confessions are used for prosecutions.

PeacefulGatherings and the Use of Excessive Force

Since March2015, the Bahraini government has prohibited all rallies, demonstrations andpublic gatherings, even if a notification was submitted to the Ministry ofInterior in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Public Gatherings.This follows a decision by the Interior Minister to stop all rallies andgatherings and to prohibit the organization of any activity, which violates theBahraini Constitution and the Law on Public Gatherings.

Since then,the Bahraini security authorities have been prosecuting all participants inpeaceful marches, rallies and protests and handing them down unfair sentences,many of which overlap with the right to exercise public freedoms. In addition,the authorities describe many forms of protest and demonstration as terroristacts.

Despitethese unjustified restrictions, Bahrain witnessed in 2018 many marches andrallies. Excessive force was used against a large part of them despite thepeaceful nature of the majority of them. The security forces use excessiveforce on the pretext that the rallies are illegal for not submittingnotifications to the Ministry of Interior or on the pretext that the protesterschant political anti-government slogans. The total number of protests of alltypes was 3169, 1016 of which were peaceful marches – 154 of which were repressedand there were 25 injuries – and 575 other forms of protest, against which excessiveforce was used by the security services.

Violationof political rights

It can besaid that many political rights in Bahrain are confiscated because of theconstitutional amendments and some laws and legislations issued in the light ofthese amendments, or because of the way they are applied. This made Bahrain'spolitical life and related rights witness a decline in terms of the legislativeaspect and the practical application of these laws and legislations, and interms of the manner in which those rights are exercised. The government imposesobstacles and security measures on those rights that limit their practice andeven contribute to their violation in many cases.

As a resultof the constitutional amendment to the Law on Exercising Political Rights in2018, which legitimized "political exclusion", thousands of Bahrainicitizens were excluded from the right to vote and run for office in the 2018elections. They include those convicted in politically-motivated cases such asparticipation in marches and rallies and many cases that overlap with freedomof opinion and expression, as well as thousands of citizens belonging topolitical associations that have been dissolved because of their opposition togovernment policy, whether they were the leaders of political associations, employeesor members, simply because they are members of these associations.

In addition,many violations and measures are still ongoing and aimed primarily atundermining and violating political rights and related rights, such as:

- Underminingthe right to participate in political affairs by preventing candidates fromrunning for the 2018 parliamentary elections for political reasons.

- Intimidatingcitizens who called for boycotting the 2018 parliamentary elections, and prosecutinganyone who called for boycotting the elections, even though the call forboycotting was for political reasons.

- Continuingunfair trials, and handing down sentences to political figures over theirpolitical activity, or because they exercise the right to freedom of opinionand expression.

- Violatingthe right to freedom of association, especially political and human rights associations,by placing unjustified restrictions on them and preventing the issuance oflicenses to specific groups to form new associations.

- Violatingthe right to liberty and security of person, and subjecting many of thosearrested on political grounds to torture and ill-treatment.

Hatespeech

The BahrainForum for Human Rights (BFHR) monitored 7,602 media materials and messages thatincite or help to incite hatred against human rights defenders, politicalactivists, Bahraini citizens, and international media organizations betweenJanuary and December 2018. The materials were distributed as follows: 1,390media materials in the official press and 6,212 materials on social mediaoutlets. This exceeds what the BFHR monitored in the 2017 Annual Report, inwhich 6,600 hate materials were monitored.

Thehate-inciting media materials were distributed in the official press asfollows: 272 materials in Bahrain's al-Ayam newspaper, 442 materials inBahrain's Akhbar al-Khaleej newspaper, 205 materials in Bahrain’s al-Biladnewspaper and 467 materials in Bahrain’s al-Watan newspaper.

Hatematerials were monitored through following 643 electronic accounts, 90% of thempost from Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. 122 accounts have been closed inconjunction with Twitter's announcement of a campaign to close automatedaccounts believed to be "web robots" and involved in hate materials,except for @dredossary, which was suspended by the Assistant Undersecretary forInformation and Follow-up at the Prime Minister's Court, Ibrahim Al-Dosari, afterthe well-known case that was aroused over the account “Naeb Taeb”.

In June, 182hate materials on the trial of Sheikh Ali Salman, Secretary General of theal-Wefaq National Islamic Society, were monitored. 59 hate materials againstPrince Zeid bin Ra’ad al-Hussein, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, weremonitored due to his criticism of the human rights situation in Bahrain.Moreover, 61 hate materials against granting Head of the Bahrain Center forHuman Rights, Nabeel Rajab, an honorary citizenship by the Paris Municipalitywere monitored.

In April, 115media materials that incite hatred against 4 prominent Shiite clerics inBahrain, including senior scholar Sayed Abdullah al-Ghuraifi, were monitored.34 of them were published in the four official newspapers, and 81 materialswere published on social media websites. It was noted that the publishedmaterials amounted to 105 hate materials after the release of the statement ofUndersecretary of Islamic Affairs at the Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs andEndowment, Fareed al-Moftah, against the four senior clerics.

In the firstsix months of 2018, 265 hate materials were monitored against the leader of theShiite community in Bahrain, Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim. They were distributedas follows: 245 hate materials on social networking sites and 20 hate materialsin the four official newspapers.

In addition,713 media materials that incite or help to incite hatred or discriminationagainst Shi'a Muslims were monitored, in conjunction with the Ashuracommemoration, the attack on Ashura manifestations by the security officers andthe Malikiyah incident.

The adviserat the Bahraini Ministry of Information Affairs, Sawsan al-Sha'er, published 40hate materials and an article, on April 22, entitled “Bored of Bahrain?!!” dueto a traditional song a citizen was chanting in a religious affair. The articleresulted in arresting the citizen who chanted the song from his work place, andthe Public Prosecution decided to detain him for 15 days pending investigation.

According tothe report titled “Elections Without Integrity,” issued by the three humanrights organizations, it is clear, by monitoring what was published by the fourofficial newspapers, Bahrain's al-Ayam newspaper, al-Watan newspaper, Akhbar al-Khaleejnewspaper and al-Bilad newspaper, in conjunction with the elections in Bahrain,that hate speeches continued against those who opposed elections. 281 mediamaterials and messages that incite or help to incite hatred against humanrights defenders, political activists and Bahraini citizens were observed.Those materials were distributed among 81 media articles published in theofficial newspapers, Bahrain's al-Ayam newspaper, al-Watan newspaper, Akhbaral-Khaleej newspaper and al-Bilad newspaper, and 200 materials published onsocial media. The journalists, Faisal al-Sheikh, Farid Hassan, Mona Mutawa,Saeed al-Hamad and Sawsan al-Shaer, continued to publish hate materials.

In light ofthe abovementioned, the BFHR recommends the following:

1. UrgeMember States of the Human Rights Council to take serious action, including submittinga decision to establish a monitoring mechanism for the human rights situationin Bahrain.

2. Releaseall detainees of politically-motivated cases and abolish the sentences,including death sentences and life imprisonments, handed down to thoseconvicted in politically-motivated cases.

3. Openindependent investigations into all complaints of torture and ill-treatment,prosecute the perpetrators of torture crimes and compensate the victims fairly.

4. Develop abinding mechanism to implement the recommendations and decisions of the HumanRights Council in Geneva.

5. Suspendthe Law on the Protection of Society from Terrorist Acts No. 58 of 2006, andensure that this law along with other punitive laws are not used againstpolitical activists, media professionals and human rights defenders.

6. ReviewBahraini laws that restrict rights and freedoms and ensure their conformitywith international charters and covenants, and allow citizens to exercise theserights and freedoms, mainly freedom of assembly and peaceful demonstration.

7. Reviewand amend laws restricting political and human rights activity, especially theLaw on Political Associations No. 26 of 2005, and the Law on ExercisingPolitical Rights; Harmonize these laws with the International Bill of HumanRights so as to guarantee the exercise of political rights.

8. Stopusing the revocation of nationality as a punitive tool, and abolish thedecisions to revoke the nationalities of the citizens who have been stripped ofthe Bahraini citizenship, and in particular Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Ahmed Qassim.

9. Removerestrictions on international human rights organizations and allow them tovisit Bahrain and cooperate with them.

10. Allowspecial rapporteurs of the United Nations to visit Bahrain, in particular the SpecialRapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment orPunishment, the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers,the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and ofassociation, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief and the SpecialRapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinionand expression.

11. Stop theadoption of policies of discrimination against citizens on religious andsectarian grounds and stop hate speech by the official or government-backedmedia against political and religious groups in Bahrain.