Three men were executed [Bahrain News Agency report] by firing squad in Bahrain on Sunday after being convicted of killing three policemen in March 2014. The execution came a week after a the high court upheld their sentence, leading to the first documented execution in Bahrain in six years. The executions have been controversial and heavily critized, especially because of the fact that all the three men were Shia. The execution sparked several protests in Shia villages and several policemen were wounded in the clashes between police and protesters. The human rights organization Reprieve [advocacy website] has further warned that the executions were based on confessions obtained through torture of the three men.

Bahrain has faced growing international concerns about its human rights practices in later years. In September 2016, 32 nations joined a statement read to the UN Human Rights Council [official website] urging Bahrain [JURIST report] to protect its citizens’ freedoms of peaceful assembly, expression and rights to a fair trial. In November 2016, Amnesty International [advocacy website] critized Bahrain [JURIST report] for not taking adequate steps to stop unlawful killings, torture and human rights violations that has been committed by Bahrain’s secury forces. There has especially been concern over Bahrain’s treatment of its minority Shia population. In August 2016 a group of UN human rights experts expressed concerns [JURIST report] that the human rights of the Shia population were being suppressed, as they were often unfairly charged with with illegal gathering, inciting hatred against the regime, money laundering and acts of terrorism.