As seen in recent footage, the Al-Khalifa regime's forces have attempted to further siege Duraz, armed with automatic rifles, dressed all in black with masks, and firing at the peaceful protesters. This occurred at the dead of night, at approximately 4 o'clock local time. 

One young protester, Mustafa Hamdan (pictured below) was hit directly in the head and his medical condition is critical. The regime's armed forces clearly intended to fatally wound protesters and rout the area surrounding Sheikh Isa Qassim's property. 

                 

This cowardly act by a regime intent on following up its brutality of executing three innocent Bahrainis with further bloodshed displays the depths in which Al-Khalifa are willing to plummet. 


                                   

Bahrain Campaign can confirm that the Bahraini people have not let up, and bravely risked their own lives to ensure the safety of their highest religious authority, Sheikh Isa Qassim, whilst calling for full democratic transformation, all rights and freedoms, and the end to Al-Khalifa's tyrannical rule. Furthermore, Bahrain Campaign believes it is incumbent on Al-Khalifa's Western allies, the strongest partners to the regime, to step up and stifle their ally Al-Khalifa if they wish that bloodshed does not continue. The discriminatory and influenced courts of Bahrain are already paving the way for the execution of a Bahraini father of three, following fast on the heels of the execution of Abbas Al-Samea, Sami Mushaima, and Ali Al-Singace. At the current rate, a deep and violent crisis is looming which all can see.  

Britain is facing demands to sever its multi-million pound security ties with Bahrain after the Gulf state executed three Shia Muslims who had claimed they were tortured into confessing to a bomb attack. The executions of the three men, aged 21 to 42, in the early hours of Sunday were the first to be carried out in Bahrain since 2010 and the first time that the death penalty has been carried out on Bahraini citizens since 1996. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson responded to the killings by firing squad by issuing a statement which re-stated Britain’s opposition to the death penalty but stopped short of an explicit condemnation of the executions. Mr Johnson said that he had raised the issue with the Bahraini authorities.

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The government is facing fresh questions about Britain’s aid strategy after it emerged that a controversial multi-million pound programme of support for Bahrain’s security and justice system is being bolstered this year, even as the Gulf state reverses reforms to a key intelligence agency accused of torture.

Data provided under the Freedom of Information Act reveals that Bahraini authorities will this year receive a further £2m of British funding, including aid money drawn from the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund, a pot of aid money currently the focus of an investigation by UK MPs.

Human rights campaigners have expressed concerns that funding projects through the CSSF raises the risk of UK complicity in abuses, or involvement in the whitewashing of those abuses.

Last year, Britain spent £2.1m on a package of “reform assistance” to the Bahraini security sector, overseen by the Foreign Office. Programmes funded by the CSSF were titled “reform and rehabilitation system” and “sharing UK experience and best practice”, according to details published online by the Foreign Office but subsequently deleted. A £500,000 component listed under the category “public order” has alarmed rights activists, who have been heavily critical of Bahraini riot police’s suppression of pro-democracy activists.

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On 13 June 2016, Bahraini authorities arrested Nabeel Rajab, who has been a defender for freedom of expression for over 15 years, in a series of repressive actions to severely restrict the work of civil society in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Since then, Rajab has been detained on charges related to his comments on Twitter, documenting allegations of torture in Bahrain's Jau Prison and criticizing the escalating humanitarian crisis caused by the Saudi-led coalition airstrikes in Yemen. 

This is not the first time Rajab has been prosecuted by Bahraini authorities for exercising his right to freedom of expression. In May 2012, he was charged with “insulting a statutory body via Twitter” and detained for three weeks. In early July 2012, he was charged with insulting the prime minister in a tweet and sentenced to three months in jail. On 16 August 2012, he was sentenced to three years in prison for illegal political activities involving the use of social networking sites and was released on 24 May 2014, after serving two full years in prison.

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I have known Mansoor al-Jamri, the editor-in-chief of Bahrain’s Al Wasat newspaper for many years. He is a brave, determined and diligent journalist and his newspaper is the only independent voice in a deeply divided country.

On 16 January at 7pm local time, Bahrain’s Ministry of Information delivered a letter to Al Wasat's offices, ordering the paper to shut down its online site. At the same time, the government-run Bahrain News Agency issued a terse press release. That was followed up by a televised report just five minutes after the letter had landed on Mansoor al-Jamri’s desk. As a Bahraini acquaintance of mine laconically noted “they planned it".

The charge sheet reads like something out of the Donald Trump playbook.

Al Wasat was accused of repeatedly publishing material “inciting division in the community, jeopardising national unity and disrupting public peace". Or as Mr Trump would have it “publishing fake news”.

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