Rights groups are urging members of parliament attending this year’s Inter-Parliamentary Union in Bahrain to use the assembly to raise concerns about the “dire state of political freedom” in the Gulf country.
Bahrain has been accused of widespread crackdowns following pro-democracy protests in 2011, and opposition politicians, along with activists, bloggers, and human rights defenders, remain in prison over their roles in those demonstrations and more recent protests.
Bahrain’s judiciary dissolved two of the country’s main political opposition parties, al-Wefaq and Wa’ad, in 2016 and 2017, and Human Rights Watch says the country imposes severe restrictions on freedom of expression, association, and assembly, while also noting that elections are neither free nor fair. Authorities in Bahrain deny accusations of human rights abuses and say its elections are democratic.
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