Blog
Published on January 14, 2015
Human Rights First’s Brian Dooley appeared on HuffPost Live to discuss the political situation in Bahrain. As he wrote in a recent blog post, Bahrain’s foreign minister marched in Paris in solidarity for the attacks on Charlie Hebdo, even though his government is guilty of curtailing free speech and peaceful protests.
Many human rights defenders remain in jail, including Hussain Jawad, who is charged with free-speech related offenses for peacefully criticizing the government. Another defender, Nabeel Rajab, will get a verdict on Tuesday, January 20 for “insulting government ministries” in a tweet pointing out extremist links to the Bahraini security forces.
As Dooley notes, this behavior is not unusual, but typical of this repressive regime that shows little interest in democratic reforms or an inclusive political solution.
