Women’s rights activists in Bahrain have pledged to fight any laws proposed by the new parliament that could reduce their freedom. Amnesty International (AI) Bahrain’s head of campaigns, Fawzia Rabea, yesterday urged women to do everything in their power to prevent radical policies being implemented. Her comments come after new MP Sayed Abdulla Al A’ali [...]
Defeated parliamentary candidate Dr Muneera Fakhro has filed a case claiming that winner Dr Salah Ali received illegal votes through Bahrain’s 10 general polling stations, it was announced yesterday. She claims that the difference was so dramatic that some votes may have been fabricated. Dr Fakhro received 331 votes through the open stations versus 1,191 [...]
MPs named on a blacklist by the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) said they hoped it would not influence voters’ decisions in tomorrow’s elections. The list named 19 MPs, including independents and members of Al Asala Islamic Society and Al Menbar Islamic Society. The BCHR claims they contributed to human rights violations in the [...]
A prominent member of the political opposition has challenged a human rights activist to a public debate after the latter accused him of providing false information to the United Nations. Representatives of The Haq Movement of Liberties and Democracy visited UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s office on August 14 to submit a petition asking the [...]
Bahrain’s biggest political society is campaigning against electronic voting in the municipal and parliamentary elections being held later in the year. E-voting is not as safe as the traditional ballot box method, says Al Wefaq National Islamic Society. Dangers include hacking, fraud and or a total breakdown of the system on polling day, says Al [...]
Ten MPs stormed out of parliament yesterday in protest after a controversial anti-terrorism law was approved. They claimed parliament had passed a bill that the people simply did not want. Political and human rights activists have previously criticised the law, saying it was vague and could be used to try ordinary criminals on terror-related charges. [...]
Parliament reached a deadlock for the second time yesterday over articles related to the death penalty in the government-proposed anti-terrorism law. MPs couldn’t reach a final decision to pass the new law following last week’s session on whether it should include the death sentence. They only managed to revise 12 of the law’s 34 articles, [...]
Bahrain’s Shia Muslim opposition boycotted the political process for four years, but have now decided to take part in the next elections in a bid to change the Sunni government from within. The boycott by four Shia movements in 2002 effectively ended on May 1, when the largest of them, Al Wefaq (the Islamic National [...]
«Øــق» ليســت متشــددة قلالي – Ùهيم عبدالله يمثل وضعا غريبا بالنسبة إليه كرجل دين سني، إذ كان على رأس مجموعة معارضة جريئة إبان أيام أمن الدولة. .. وكان ضمن مجموعة مهندسي العرائض التاريخية بدءاً من العريضة النخبوية ÙÙŠ مطلع التسعينات والعريضة الشعبية بعدها بسنين، ومن ثم العريضة الأممية التي تجمع توقيعاتها Øركة «Øق» ÙÙŠ هذه [...]
National Democratic Institute official Fawzi Guleid (third from right, back row), during a farewell ceremony held in his honour on Thursday night in Manama. EPA National Democratic Institute, Bahrain Programme Officer Fawzi Guleid yesterday left Bahrain amid uncertainties about the future of the Washington-based institute in Manama. Guleid had been asked by immigration authorities to [...]
