Bahrain detains activist for critical posts on final day of F1 testing

Bahraini authorities have arrested a human rights activist and a pro-democracy campaigner for posting online comments critical of the kingdom’s policies, on the final day of pre-season testing for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Ali al-Hajee was arrested on February 28. According to the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), he received a series of phone calls in the run-up to his detention while the pre-season testing was taking place, telling him to report to the Interior Ministry’s so-called Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) for interrogation. The calls were followed by a written police summons.

BIRD said Hajee was interrogated for several hours “about his posts on X social media platform, exposing abuses against political prisoners and advocating for human rights in Bahrain.”

On March 1, the day after his arrest, Bahrain’s public prosecution ordered his detention pending investigation on charges of “misusing social media”. Hajee’s lawyer was not present. He is currently being held in Dry Dock Prison.

The activist left a video message, in which he says, “Continued restrictions on human rights defenders will not deter us from demanding justice and victims’ rights.” 

Hajee spent over 10 years in Bahraini detention centers, between 2013 and 2023, and faces imprisonment once again under the kingdom’s strict freedom of expression laws. 

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Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, the director of advocacy at BIRD, said Hajee had been “very vocal since his release from prison in June 2023.”

“His current detention is a direct result of his activism - authorities are targeting him during Formula One testing to prevent any exposure of human rights abuses. The message is clear: he is being made an example, and anyone who dares to expose human rights violations will face severe punishment,” he said.

Zainab al-Khamees, Hajee’s wife, said, “Ali is detained simply for his human rights advocacy and interrogated by the interior ministry and the public prosecution without the presence of his lawyer - in blatant violation of Bahraini law.”

“It breaks my heart to have learned that he is held under harsh conditions at Dry Dock Prison and was given only a soiled blanket,” she added.

Mary Lawlor, the UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders, also called for Hajee’s release.

Anti-monarchy demonstrations began in Bahrain on February 14, 2011, and have been held regularly ever since the popular uprising started.

Demonstrators demand that the Al Khalifah regime relinquish power, and a democratic, just system representing all Bahrainis be established.

The Manama regime, however, has responded to demands for social equality with an iron fist, clamping down on voices of dissent.

In March 2017, Bahrain’s parliament approved the trial of opposition civilians at military tribunals in a measure blasted by human rights campaigners as being tantamount to the imposition of an undeclared martial law.

The monarch, King Hamad, ratified the constitutional amendment in April 2017, bringing about further suppression of political dissent on the tiny Persian Gulf Island.

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