Geneva, 27 July 2017 – On Wednesday, Bahrain charged 60 Shia Muslims with terrorism for protesting against the government. They will face a mass trial, scheduled on August 22.

This is not the first time Bahrain tries to silence the Shiite population. Hundreds have been jailed since 2011 for demanding an elected government that would replace the 200 years old Al-Khalifa dynasty.

In a country where human rights are practically inexistent, the Shiite population is being silenced for speaking against the government and fighting for their most basic human rights.

Last May, Bahraini forces killed 5 and wounded dozens in a crackdown against protesters at a peaceful sit-in in Duraz in front of prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim, whose citizenship has been revoked last year.

The kingdom has been stripping dissidents of their citizenship at an increasing rate. Bahraini authorities have revoked the citizenship of 103 people this year and 451 since 2012.

Obtaining information or clarification is all the more difficult as security forces do not hesitate to cut off Internet network in Shiite majority villages, some of which, like Duraz, have been virtually under blockade for months.

In Bahrain, the space for civil society and human rights defenders is shrinking day by day. Just recently, Nabeel Rajab has been sentenced to two years in prison for speaking against the government after being held in solitary confinement for almost a year, undergoing torture and other cruel and ill-treatments.

Ebtisam Al-Sayegh was arrested multiple times this year, tortured and sexually assaulted. She was arrested again at the beginning of the month for criticizing the kingdom, denouncing in tweets the ill-treatment inflicted on women by agents of the NSA, holding the king responsible for the abuses. A few days ago, Bahraini authorities charged human rights defender al-Saegh with terrorism in a constant attempt to silence and shrink civil society.

These arbitrary measures are added to a long list of abuses committed by law enforcement agencies such as summary executions, violent interrogations, waves of arrests, dissolution of opposition movements (al-Wefaq and a -Waad), the paralysis of civil society, the movement control of the inhabitants of the villages suspected of sheltering "terrorist" pockets, the prohibition to go to certain Shiite mosques, etc.

ICSFT condemns the kingdom of Bahrain for once again violating the most basic rights and for the increasing arbitrary detentions against human rights defenders and Shia Muslims. ICSFT demands the immediate release of Ebtisam Al-Saegh and urges the authorities of Bahrain to drop all charges against her. This country applies archaic methods and a primitive ideology that must end now.