Bahrain

RetentionistLegal status of the death penalty*
27Number of individuals currently under sentence of death
0Executions in 2022
0Executions in 2021
0Executions in 2020

2019Last known execution
ShootingMethod(s) of execution
NoParty to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
NoParty to the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty
Not applicableParty to the American Convention on Human Rights
Not applicableParty to the Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights to Abolish the Death Penalty
NoUN Moratorium Resolution (2010): cosponsor
AbstainedUN Moratorium Resolution (2010): vote
YesUN Moratorium Resolution (2010): has signed the Note Verbale of Dissociation
NoUN Moratorium Resolution (2012): cosponsor
AgainstUN Moratorium Resolution (2012): vote
YesUN Moratorium Resolution (2012): has signed the Note Verbale of Dissociation
NoDoes the country have a mandatory death penalty?
2023-05-23Last update


Source: Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide
*Source of classification: Amnesty International

Related document(s)

Document(s)

The Court is Satisfied with the Confession: Bahrain Death Sentences Follow Torture, Sham Trials

By Human Rights Watch, on 10 October 2022


2022

Article

Bahrain

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More details See the document

In a February 2019 letter to the United Nations Office in Geneva, the government of Bahrain claimed that its courts “actually hand down very few death sentences.” In fact, since 2011, courts in Bahrain have sentenced 51 people to death, and the state has executed six since the end of a de facto moratorium on executions in 2017. As of June 2022, 26 men were on death row, and all have exhausted their appeals. Under Bahraini law, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has the power to ratify these sentences, commute them, or grant pardons.

Document(s)

The Death Penalty in Bahrain: A system built on torture

on 14 January 2022


2022

NGO report

Bahrain

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More details See the document

Salam for Democracy and Human Rights (Salam DHR)’s report was published on October 10, 2021, to mark the 19th World Day Against the Death Penalty. The Death Penalty in Bahrain: A system built on torture, provides accessible and abridged information regarding the development of the death penalty in Bahrain.

This report examines how executions have expanded in both their criteria and implementation since the Arab Spring in 2011 and how this practice contradicts the Government of Bahrain’s (GoB) promises of reform made following the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) that same year. Instead, the Bahraini State continues to rely on confessions coerced under torture and threats as a method of permanently silencing poliIcal prisoners. The nation’s internal mechanisms of accountability have repeatedly proven themselves to be ineffective in remedying this situation and are possibly complicit. Considering these findings, and in support those who have been victimized, Salam DHR officially recommends that the GoB abolishes the death penalty, among other reforms.

Document(s)

The Process of Abolishing the Death Penalty in Members States of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation

By Nael Georges, ECPM, on 27 November 2020


2020

NGO report

Afghanistan

Albania

Algeria

Azerbaijan

Bahrain

Brunei Darussalam

Burkina Faso

Cameroon

Chad

Comoros

Djibouti

Egypt

Indonesia

Iran (Islamic Republic of)

Iraq

Jordan

Kazakhstan

Kuwait

Kyrgyzstan

Lebanon

Libya

Malaysia

Maldives

Mali

Morocco

Mozambique

Niger

Nigeria

Oman

Qatar

Saudi Arabia

Sierra Leone

Somalia

Sudan

Suriname

Tajikistan

Togo

Tunisia

Turkey

Turkmenistan

Uganda

United Arab Emirates

Uzbekistan

arfr
More details See the document

As the 47th session of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is being held on 27-28 November 2020 in Niamey, Niger, ECPM and Nael Georges release this study, “The Process of Abolishing the Death Penalty in Member States of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation”.

Document(s)

Note verbale dated 13 September 2019 from the Permanent Representative of Egypt to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General

By United Nations, on 15 October 2020


2020

United Nations report

Bahrain

Bangladesh

Botswana

Brunei Darussalam

Chad

China

Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Egypt

Ethiopia

Grenada

Iran (Islamic Republic of)

Iraq

Jamaica

Kuwait

Libya

Moratorium

Nigeria

Oman

Pakistan

Papua New Guinea

Qatar

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Lucia

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Saudi Arabia

Singapore

Sudan

Syrian Arab Republic

United Arab Emirates

Yemen

Zimbabwe

aresfrruzh-hant
More details See the document

The Permanent Missions to the United Nations inNew York listed below have the honour to refer to General Assembly resolution 73/175, entitled “Moratorium on the use of the death penalty”, which was adopted by the Assembly on 17 December 2018 by a recorded vote. The Permanent Missions wish to place on record that they are in persistent objection to any attempt to impose a moratorium on the use of the death penalty or its abolition in contravention of existing stipulations under international law, for the following reasons:

Other documents
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Members

Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain
Bahrain Centre for Human Rights
Bahrain Human Rights Society
Bird logo Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD)
SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights (SALAM DHR) Logo SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights (SALAM DHR)

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