Crackdown on Dissent in Advance of Formula 1 Events
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(Beirut) – Bahrain officials should immediately release Ali Al Hajee, a human rights defender who was arrested on March 1, 2025, in connection with his comments on social media, 24 organizations, including Human Rights Watch, said in a statement released today. The following is the statement:
We, the undersigned human rights organizations, call for the immediate release of human rights defender Ali Al Hajee, who was detained by Bahraini authorities following a police summons on Friday, 28 February 2025, and is currently held under investigation at Dry Dock Prison on charges of “misusing social media.” Al Hajee’s social media account on X was primarily used to share posts pertaining to human rights.
Ali Al Hajee is a Bahraini human rights defender and former political prisoner who was imprisoned in Bahrain for more than ten years until his release in June 2023.
On Friday, 28 February, which marked the last day of Formula 1 testing in Bahrain, Al Hajee received a written police summons issued by the Interior Ministry’s General Directorate of Crime Detection and Forensic Science. Shortly after, Al Hajee received a phone call from an official at the Criminal Investigation Directorate (CID) instructing him to report to the gate of the CID building in Adliya immediately and on his own. After willingly obeying the summons, Al Hajee was questioned about his human rights work, especially his social media posts on X (formerly Twitter).
The next day, Al Hajee was arrested, and Bahrain’s Public Prosecution ordered him to be detained for seven days pending investigation on charges of “misusing social media.” Both his prolonged interrogation and detention order occurred without the presence of his lawyer, according to his family.
If formally charged, he faces imprisonment under Bahrain’s draconian laws restricting freedom of expression, particularly Article 168 of Bahrain’s Penal Code, which allows authorities to punish “any person who deliberately disseminates false reports, statements or malicious rumors, or produces any publicity seeking to damage public security.”
Ali Al Hajee’s arrest is not an isolated incident but part of a broader pattern of crackdowns by Bahraini authorities around Formula 1 races in the country. The 2025 Formula Bahrain Grand Prix race kicks off on April 13.
In 2023, four Bahraini activists were arrested, threatened, verbally abused and forced to sign a pledge restricting their right to protest in the future after they held a protest near the Bahrain international circuit during the F1 race. During last year’s F1 testing in Bahrain, the son of one of these activists was arbitrarily detained following a house raid. At the same time, Al Hajee’s arrest is a concerning reversal from the government’s recent steps to release those detained for exercising their internationally recognized human rights, including more than 600 political prisoners in 2024.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Mary Lawlor, raised concerns on 3 March 2025 about Al Hajee’s detention by authorities regarding his human rights work, stating that he “should be immediately released & the authorities should show they are serious about creating an enabling environment for HRDs.”
We echo the concerns raised by Ms Lawlor and demand Ali Al Hajee’s immediate release. In light of the above, we further call on:
Ali Al Hajee was previously convicted on charges related to peaceful protests and spent more than ten years in prison from 2013 to 2023. He was released on 2 June 2023 under Bahrain’s alternative sentencing laws. Even after his conviction was officially suspended, Al Hajee continued to be targeted by Bahraini authorities and was subjected to a travel ban and briefly detained on 14 November 2023. He was then unfairly prosecuted for requesting authorities to lift his travel ban and tried on spurious charges of “entering a prohibited area.” However, he continued to highlight abuses against political prisoners and campaign for greater freedom and accountability in Bahrain after his release.
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출처: Human Rights Watch