Three relatives of Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, the Director of Advocacy of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, were arrested and sentenced to three years of prison time on October 30^th. The charges against them included allegedly planting “fake bombs” “with the intention of spreading fear and terror”.  This is the latest in a series of arrests that have plagued Bahrain since the Sunni-led government crushed pro-democracy protests during the 2011 Arab Spring. Sayed Nizar Alwadaei, Hajer Mansoon Hassan, and Mahmood Marzooq Mansoor say that their detainment included standing in painful positions for long periods of time and frequent beatings. In fact, the confessions received by the Bahrain National Security Agency were attained through coercion. Mr. Alwadaei believes that these arrests are directly related to his involvement in human rights activism and his work exposing the “government’s horrific rights abuses”.

This is not the first time that Mr. Alwadaei, who now lives in exile in the UK, has been targeted by the Bahraini government. After his participation in a protest outside of Downing Street in October, his wife and child were detained, interrogated, and threatened with prison time. This protest was in opposition to the British Prime Minister Theresa May hosting the Bahraini king. Mr. Alwadaei has since commented that he was “distraught to see my family suffer torture, persecution, and interrogation about my activities” and that he “will not rest until they are freed and will do whatever I can to hold the perpetrators to account”.

Amnesty International has denounced the actions of the Bahraini government, calling it a “blatant scheme” by the government to attempt to halt the peaceful protests that have been occurring nationwide. Samah Hadid, the Middle East campaign director at Amnesty, says that the arrests “sends a chilling signal that no one is out of the Bahraini authorities’ reach and demonstrates that they are prepared to use whatever means necessary to crush dissent”. Human Rights Watch has also expressed their concern over the incidents, particularly the trial, which presented no evidence, relied on information from “confidential sources”, and used coercive confessions.

The international response from governmental organizations, however, has been minimal. The United States, along with many other Western countries, has yet to take a stand against their important Gulf regime ally. Another quote from Samah Hadid states that “this sentence should be a wakeup call for the UK government which has continued to downplay the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Bahrain: it can no longer stay silent over the abuses being committed in the country”.

A separate, but similar, case from the same week has sentenced 19 defendants to 9 years to life in prison for “conspiring with a foreign state and terrorist organization working for its interests and receiving funds from it to carry out hostile acts in order to harm national interests”. The defendants were members of the banned political group al-Wafa Islamic Movement. More arrests, sentences, and oppressive behavior seem inevitable in the future of Bahrain if a greater international response does not occur.