Human Rights in Bahrain

A prominent human rights activist who already faced up to 15 years in prison for Twitter posts has now been hit with another charge after writing publicly about his Kafkaesque case.

Detained Bahraini activist Nabeel Rajab published an op-ed in The New York Times on Sunday titled “Letter from a Bahraini Jail” (a play on Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “Letter from Birmingham Jail”).

The Gulf monarchy Bahrain, a close U.S. ally, “is a country that has subjected its people to imprisonment, torture and even death for daring to desire democracy,” Rajab wrote. “No one has been properly held to account for systematic abuses that have affected thousands.” Full Story

Bahrain by the Numbers

RANNIE AMIRI has gathered this data in co-operation with Bahrain Center for Human Rights and other NGOs.


Population of Bahrain: 1.2 million
Number of citizens: 535,000
Percent of citizens who are Shia Muslim: 70
Percent of those in government: 13
Number of senior positions they fill in the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Cabinet Affairs, the National Guard, the Supreme Defense Council and the Royal Court: Zero
Percent in the Ministry of Finance: 10
Percent in the Ministry of Information: Six
Percent in the judiciary corps: Five
Of the 1,000 National Security Apparatus employees, percent who are non-Bahraini: 64
Percent who are Shia Bahraini: Less than five
Of the 20,000 paramilitary Special Security Forces, percent who are non-Bahraini: 90
Percent who are Shia Bahraini: Zero
Number of elected Bahrainis from all sects who sit on the country’s all-powerful Shura Council: Zero
Day pro-democracy protests began in Bahrain as part of the Arab Spring: Feb. 14, 2011
People who took to the streets: 300,000
Proportional equivalent if Egyptians had done likewise: 40 million
Evidence that Iran instigated the demonstrations: Zero
Day Saudi Arabia invaded to put down the uprising: March 14, 2011
Number of Saudi, UAE and Qatari troops who arrived in armored vehicles: 1,500
People killed since Feb.14: 50
Fatalities as a result of teargas shot into residential homes or birdshot fired at close range: 30
Age of youngest victim: Five days
Arbitrary arrests: 1,500
Civilians sentenced by military courts: 208
Physicians sentenced for offering medical treatment to demonstrators: 20
Cumulative jail term levied: 2,500 years
Citizens currently accused of violating freedom of speech or assembly laws: 1,000
Documented cases of torture and ill-treatment since the revolt began: 1,866
Bahraini officials held responsible for killings or the systemic use of torture: Zero
Mosques destroyed: 40+
Journalists targeted: 90+
Workers fired for supporting, taking part, or suspected of having taken part in pro-democracy activities: 2,710
University students expelled for the same reasons: 477
Prisoners of conscience: 500
Where Bahrain ranks among countries with the highest number of political prisoners per capita: 1st
Proposed U.S. arms sales to Bahrain: $53 million
Years the al-Khalifa family has ruled Bahrain: 228
Days left in power: Numbered