BHR 001 / 0926 / OBS 043
Arbitrary arrest
Arbitrary detention /
Judicial harassment/
Bahrain
17 September 2026
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Bahrain.
Description of the situation:
The Observatory has been informed of the arbitrary re-arrest of Mr Naji Fateel, a prominent Bahraini human rights defender and co-founder of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR), more than two years after his release under a royal pardon.
On 18 August 2026 at around 5:45am, plain-clothes police officers raided Mr Fateel’s flat in Bani Jamra while he and his family were asleep and arrested him. According to the information received, the officers did not present a warrant or explain the reason for the arrest before taking him away, allowing him only enough time to dress before placing him in a police vehicle. His children and mother were reportedly left deeply frightened by the raid. It was only after Mr Fateel had been taken outside that officers informed him his arrest was related to an outstanding financial payment linked to one of the earlier cases against him.
The Observatory notes that Mr Fateel had in fact engaged with the authorities on this very payment: he is reported to have spoken with officials on 16 August 2026 to document the amount owed with a view to reaching a settlement, and to have been told at the time not to attend the police station but instead to approach the Public Prosecution and the Sentence Enforcement Judge. Notwithstanding this, he was transferred on 20 August 2026 from East Riffa Police Station to Jau Prison, where he remains held. He is reportedly held together with at least three other former political prisoners detained over the same underlying issue, amid reports that further individuals have been arrested on the same grounds.
Among the cases against him was the 2015 Jau Prison case, in which he was one of the 57 defendants convicted in 2016 over protests inside the prison. The defendants were collectively ordered to pay approximately USD 1.35 million (approximately 1,16 million Euros) in compensation for alleged damages, with Mr Fateel’s individual share calculated at approximately USD 23,700 (approximately 20,355 Euros), payable in monthly instalments of approximately USD 996 (approximately 855 Euros). Individuals unable to meet these payments reportedly risk imprisonment. On 16 June 2026, Mr Fateel and a group of others facing the same fines wrote directly to the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, His Highness Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, copying the Ministers of Justice and Interior and the Sentence Enforcement Judge, asking the authorities to recognise the effect of the 2024 pardon on these outstanding penalties, to halt enforcement measures that could return them to prison, to clarify their legal position, and to ensure that no one released under the pardon would be imprisoned solely for being unable to pay.
The Observatory further recalls that, in its Opinion No. 65/2022 of 14 November 2022, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) found Mr Fateel’s earlier deprivation of liberty arbitrary on account of violations of international fair-trial standards, called on Bahrain to release him immediately and unconditionally, and to provide him with an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, and called for a full and independent investigation into the circumstances of his arbitrary detention and his allegations of torture.
The Observatory is seriously concerned that Mr Fateel’s arbitrary re-arrest, less than two and a half years after a royal pardon and while he was actively engaging the authorities in good faith over the payment in question, amounts to judicial harassment against him for his previous human rights activities, and that the enforcement of financial penalties tied to convictions covered by the pardon may be used as a tool for returning pardoned defenders to prison by other means.
Therefore, the Observatory calls on the Bahraini authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Mr Naji Fateel and put an end to the judicial harassment he is facing in connection with his legitimate human rights activities.
Actions requested:
Please write to the Bahraini authorities asking them to:
– Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Naji Fateel and of all human rights defenders in Bahrain;
– Release immediately and unconditionally Naji Fateel and any other former political prisoners held over the same financial liabilities;
– Clarify without delay the legal effect of the April 2024 royal pardon on financial penalties arising from the pardoned convictions, and ensure that no individual is imprisoned solely for an inability to pay such penalties;
– Comply with the WGAD’s November 2022 opinion, including by providing Naji Fateel with an enforceable right to compensation and by conducting a full and independent investigation into his earlier arbitrary detention and his allegations of torture;
– More generally, ensure in all circumstances that human rights defenders in Bahrain are able to carry out their legitimate activities without harassment or fear of reprisal.
Addresses:
• H.M. King Hamad bin Isa AL KHALIFA, King of Bahrain
• H.E. Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid AL ZAYANI, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Email: contactus@mofa.gov.bh; X: @bahdiplomatic
• H.E. Nawaf bin Mohammed AL MAAWDA, Minister of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Waqf, Email: info@moj.gov.bh
• H.E. General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah AL KHALIFA, Minister of Interior, Email: info@interior.gov.bh; X: @moi_bahrain
• H.E. Abdulla Abdullatif ABDULLA, Permanent Representative of Bahrain to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Email: info@bahrain-mission.ch
• H.E. Mohamed Ali BAHZAD, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to Belgium, Email: brussels.mission@mofa.gov.bh
Please also write to the diplomatic representations of Bahrain in your respective countries.
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Geneva-Paris, 17 September 2026
Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). The objective of this programme is to intervene to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society.
To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:
• E-mail: alert@observatoryfordefenders.org
• Tel FIDH: + 33 1 43 55 25 18
• Tel OMCT: + 41 22 809 49 39
