Over the past decade and a half, Bahrain has undergone a sustained and deliberate rollback of fundamental rights, resulting in a civic space that is fully “Closed” according to the CIVICUS Monitor and “Not Free” in Freedom House’s Freedom in the World 2025 rankings, with a score of 12/100 and Reporters without Borders 2025 Index ranked Bahrain 157/180 . The government has pursued a comprehensive strategy of repression that includes the criminalization of peaceful dissent, systematic targeting of human rights defenders (HRDs), restrictions on media and information flow, and the persecution of political opponents.
Since the popular protests of 2011, state policy has shifted from episodic crackdowns to the creation of a permanent legal and security framework designed to suppress opposition and eliminate independent voices. This includes restrictive laws on expression, association, and assembly; dissolution of opposition political societies; closure of the last independent newspaper; a ban on all demonstrations in the capital; and pervasive surveillance of citizens through both overt and covert means.
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