Arab Gulf States: Assault on Online Activists

Gulf governments have sustained their campaigns to silence peaceful critics during the first half of 2017, Human Rights Watch said today, updating an interactive website, created in November 2016, featuring targeted human rights activists.

Incidents of Anti-Shiism in JUNE, 2017 – Shia Rights Watch

June 2017 Anti-Shiism Across the Middle East As anti-Shiism runs high, over 133 were killed in the month of June. New this month are attacks on Iranian soil and a death sentence given by social media posting in Pakistan.

CISS Research Series Paper 2: A History of Shiʿism in Bahrain: 630 – 1524

Here you can read all the latest news on Shi’a Muslim studies and Muslim research from the Centre for Islamic Shi’a Studies (CISS).

Bahrain Internet Shutdown Hits One Year Mark, Longest in Region’s History

As of 7pm tonight, Bahrain has shut down the internet in the village of Duraz every day for 365 days. This makes it one of the longest sustained internet shutdowns in the world. Since 23 June 2016, residents of Duraz have been reporting regular disruptions to internet services within the village.

Commentary: Inside Trump’s Middle East mess

President Donald Trump’s attempt to bring peace and stability to the Middle East has backfired spectacularly. He has put a major U.S. ally, Qatar, in a serious geopolitical crisis and damaged the efforts of his own cabinet to calm regional tensions.

Congressman James McGovern delivers speech on one-year anniversary of Nabeel Rajab’s arbitrary arrest – Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain

On 13 June 2017, US Congressman James McGovern delivered a speech in Congress to mark the arbitrary arrest and one-year detention of Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab. Congressman McGovern is Rajab’s advocate in the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission’s Defending Freedoms Project for Prisoners of Conscience and has been …

For full tex of ADHRB Newsletter 210, click here.

Bahrain’s Monarchy Cries Sectarianism to Hoard Public Wealth

NOTE:The following article was written by Bahrain Watch member Fahad Desmukh and was originally published on the website of TRT World on May 29, 2017. However TRT World had to remove it the following day after Bahrain’s foreign ministry made a complaint about the article to the Turkish government.

Saudi warmongering against Qatar, Alkhalifa decide to kill more Bahrainis VOB.ORG

The Saudis are grinding their axes to throttle Qataris as they have been doing in Yemen and had done in Iraq, Syria, Bahrain and Egypt. Riyadh’s decision to severe diplomatic links with its neighbour and GCC partner is another twist in the kingdom’s quest for regional dominance.

EGYPT, For the People or Against the People? – Shia Rights Watch

While the history of Shia Muslims in Egypt is long and extensive, anti-Shiism is prevalent in this nation. Once called the forgotten minority, Shia Muslims in Egypt are lost amidst country’s political unrest. Shia numbers are always undermined in state-issued reports in aims of suppressing the population.

For the rest of the SRW’s recent mailing, including ‘Incidents of Anti-Shiism in May, 2017’, see here.

Bahrain Dissolves Wa’ad, Last Major Opposition Society – Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain

31 May 2017 – A Bahraini court today approved the dissolution of Wa’ad (also known as the National Democratic Action Society), the country’s largest secular, leftist opposition group. Wa’ad was the last major opposition group officially operating in Bahrain following the July 2016 dissolution of Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society. Americans …