Bahraini authorities have rearrested at least nine men who had previously been released from prison by royal pardon, the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) and Human Rights Watch said today.
The men, who were previously detained on politically motivated charges, were arrested in July and August 2026 for allegedly failing to pay fines dating back a decade. Bahraini authorities should immediately release them and cease all efforts to collect the dubious unpaid fines.
"King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa's decision to pardon over 3,000 prisoners in the last two years earned immense praise from the international community, but these new arrests call into question whether the pardons were genuine," said Niku Jafarnia, Bahrain and Yemen researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Those who praised the pardons should call on Bahrain to stop rearresting people and release those again detained."
BIRD and Human Rights Watch spoke to three people, including Naji Fateel, a prominent Bahraini human rights defender who was among the nine rearrested and who spoke from detention. They also spoke to Mustafa al-Jamri and Hassan Burwase, who have not yet been rearrested, but who said the authorities were trying to detain them.
The arrests are happening against the backdrop of one of the biggest crackdowns by Bahrain's authorities on freedom of expression and assembly since the widespread arrests following the 2011 pro-democracy protests. Since March, authorities have arrested over 600 people on various charges, including "supporting and endorsing a state hostile to Bahrain" and espionage, and at least 69 people of Iranian descent have been stripped of their Bahrain nationality, including many children.
Those interviewed said the issue was alleged unpaid fines imposed on them and 48 others accused of causing damage during a major protest in Jau Prison in 2015. Human Rights Watch and BIRD have documented that the authorities imposed physical and psychological abuse on the protesters and denied them needed medical care.
In 2016, the authorities added 15 years to their sentences and fined them a total of 507,187.97 Bahraini Dinars (approximately US$1.35 million), for offenses including damaging public property, attacking police, arson, and resisting authorities. At the time, BIRD, along with several other human rights organizations, called into question the convictions, saying the Bahraini government had sentenced 57 people to lengthy prison terms amid allegations of abuse, torture, and due process violations, and called on security officials involved in the abuse to be held accountable.
The 2024 royal pardons included 33 of those men. All three men interviewed said that their understanding was that the royal pardon also included the charges and fines imposed under the 2016 sentence following the protests. However, in early June, the authorities contacted many of the men to say that they had to pay fines without specifying what the fines were in relation to or how much they should pay.
Al-Jamri said that a security official who called him simply said that he had "amounts of money due." When he asked for clarification, the man said there were "amounts due related to the case," without any details, and he was told to go to a police station in Manama, the capital.
"I was surprised," al-Jamri said. "What are these amounts? I mean, I hadn't had any problems; there was nothing against me. I was approaching two years [since my release]."
Burwase said the papers linked with his and the rest of the men's pardons indicated that they had been cleared of "everything, completely," and that the authorities had also issued him a "good conduct certificate," meaning there were no outstanding cases against him.
On June 16, after hearing from the authorities, 14 of the pardoned men, including the 3 interviewed, wrote to the crown prince, stating their belief that the royal pardon had "brought to an end all consequences arising from the judgments," including the financial penalties. "This understanding was reinforced by the official measures that followed the pardon and were intended to reintegrate us into society, including government directives to provide training and employment opportunities to those covered by the pardon."
In the letter, the men asked the authorities to recognize the effect of the pardon on the outstanding penalties, halt enforcement measures that could result in their return to prison, clarify their legal position, and ensure that those released under the pardon were not imprisoned simply because they could not afford to pay any outstanding fines.
The men received no response. But in July and August, the authorities arrested 8 of the 33 convicted in 2016 and pardoned in 2024. Among them, three were signatories to the letter.
Fateel said that on August 16, officials contacted him regarding the fine. He had asked them to provide documentation establishing the amount to be paid and whether he should go to the police station to discuss the matter. He said that the officials had told him to instead contact the public prosecution and the sentence enforcement judge, who oversees sentencing for convicted individuals.
He said that plainclothes officers awakened him at approximately 5:45 a.m. on August 18, banging loudly on his bedroom door. He said they immediately arrested him and took him away without explaining the reason for his arrest or presenting a warrant. He said that when they were headed to the East Riffa Police Station, an officer told him that he had been arrested because of "a fine."
In 2022, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found Fateel's original detention arbitrary and therefore unlawful, concluding that the proceedings involved serious violations of international fair-trial standards. They called for his immediate and unconditional release. The findings covered the Jau Prison case now being used by authorities to rearrest him. By the time he was finally released in 2024, Fateel had spent 11 years in arbitrary detention.
Fateel, along with many others who had been pardoned, now faces imprisonment again for fines that he should not in fact be liable for and cannot afford, the groups said.
Regarding the exorbitant amount of the fine, al-Jamri said: "It would be difficult for anyone in Bahrain to pay, whether they had a case against them or not. A salary in Bahrain might be 350 dinars [a month], yet you're asking me to pay installments of 375 dinars [every month] for two years."
As of October 5, Bahraini authorities have continued to pursue arrests for others from the 33 people convicted in 2016 and released in 2024, based on reports from some of those who authorities have contacted.
"Bahrain's government is going after former political prisoners released by royal pardon, giving them a difficult choice: pay huge fines or go back to prison," said Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, advocacy director at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy. "The EU, UK, and US rushed to applaud Bahrain for releasing political prisoners. They should now speak out and call on Bahrain to cease targeting those who were released."
