Bahrain Mirror: The Bahrain Forum for Human Rights said that the Bahraini authorities recently started creating "vexatious lawsuits against a group of politicians and rights activists to justify the travel ban against them before the international public opinion". The Forum clarified that this comes after a wave of international criticism addressed at the Bahraini government, as the latter has been violating the activists' freedom of movement since June 2016, when the 32th meeting of the Human Rights Council took place in Geneva, "since travel bans did not have any legal justifications."

In a statement issued (Wednesday November 9) the Bahrain Forum said, "In 2015, 74 cases of prosecutions against conscience activists in Bahrain were monitored. Human rights defenders had a big share [of these prosecutions], as they are the target most likely at risk among the targets of repression". These numbers were based on the 2015 report of the International Federation for Human Rights.

Moreover, the Forum added that according to the 2015 UN Special Rapporteur report on the situation of human rights defenders, "Preliminary investigations may be used to intimidate, silence or otherwise deter defenders from carrying out their legitimate activities to promote human rights." 

The Bahrain Forum for Human Rights concluded its statement by demanding the High Commission for Human Rights and international rights organizations to pressure the Bahraini governments to lift the travel bans imposed on human rights defenders and activists of conscience. They also called for the end of the judicial prosecution policy, which undermines the right to work on the political and human rights levels.

Arabic Version