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

Don't Forget Bahrain in this Holy Month

BAHRAIN: Crackdown Continues

The New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch released a report on Wednesday in which it accused Bahraini security forces of beating and detaining wounded protesters, and even of denying some live-saving treatment.
"Since the Bahraini Defense Force (BDF) took over the country's largest public medical facility on March 16, 2011, security and military forces have sought out and threatened, beaten and detained patients injured by teargas, rubber bullets, birdshot pellets, and live ammunition," the report said. "These patients also have been removed from hospitals or forcibly transferred to other medical facilities, often against medical advice." full story

Obama Doesn't Want Media To Report Bahrain Rebellion

UAE: Next for Middle East political unrest?

The idea that the UAE could see any political upheaval seems, if anything, more unlikely after the unrest elsewhere in the region.
Hotels in Dubai are rumoured to be seeing increased levels of business as financial professionals from Bahrain and tourists, who may have otherwise visited Egypt, divert to the emirate.
What's more, while the Bahrain Financial Harbour resembles ghost town – not least because banks like Standard Chartered and HSBC lifted staff out of the kingdom – the DIFC has a distinctly more bustling feel to it and headhunters are rubbing their hands as key bankers temporarily relocated to Dubai ponder a permanent move.
But is trouble in the UAE really beyond the realms of possibility? David Butter, regional director for Middle East and North Africa at the Economist Intelligence Unit, tells us that "it's not outlandish that there could be trouble in the UAE", but that the "idea would of course be laughed out of court".
“You’ve got the presence of Emirati angst: the feeling that you’re not doing as well as others and did we really ask for our country to look like this?,” he says. (full story)