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Human Rights Watch has documented an alarming surge in arbitrary detentions across Bahrain as armed conflict intensifies, with authorities apprehending civilians in clear violation of international humanitarian law.
What Is Happening on the Ground?
Since the escalation of armed hostilities in Bahrain, Human Rights Watch has documented a sweeping campaign of arbitrary arrests that legal experts say constitute serious breaches of international humanitarian law. Security forces have detained hundreds of individuals — including activists, journalists, religious figures, and ordinary civilians — without charge or judicial oversight.
According to testimony gathered by HRW from detainees' families and legal representatives, those arrested are being held in undisclosed locations, denied access to lawyers, and subjected to interrogation techniques that may amount to torture or cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.
The Bahraini government has justified the crackdown as a necessary security measure during a period of heightened national threat. Human rights organizations reject this framing, arguing that no security situation justifies the wholesale abandonment of legal safeguards for civilians.
The Legal Framework Being Violated
International humanitarian law — including the Geneva Conventions — strictly limits what states may do to civilians during armed conflict. Arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, and torture are prohibited under all circumstances, including during states of emergency.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Bahrain is a signatory, provides additional protections. Article 9 guarantees the right to liberty and security of person. Article 7 prohibits torture and cruel treatment. Both provisions are classified as non-derogable, meaning they cannot be suspended even during national emergencies.
Human rights lawyers working on Bahrain cases have documented a pattern of systematic violations including prolonged solitary confinement, sleep deprivation, and denial of medical care — practices that constitute torture under the UN Convention Against Torture.
"The authorities are using the cover of armed conflict to settle scores against long-standing opponents. This is not security policy — it is collective punishment, and it is illegal."
— Human Rights Watch Researcher, Middle East Division
Profiles of Those Detained
Among those detained are members of Bahrain's Shia majority community, who have historically faced disproportionate targeting by the Sunni-led government. Prominent human rights defenders, opposition political figures, and clerics have been swept up in the arrests alongside individuals with no known political activity.
In several documented cases, family members who inquired about the whereabouts of detained relatives were themselves arrested and interrogated. This chilling effect has made it exceptionally difficult for human rights monitors to obtain comprehensive information about the scale of the detention campaign.
Children as young as 16 have reportedly been detained, according to sources on the ground who spoke to HRW under conditions of anonymity due to fears of reprisals.
International Response and Its Limits
The United Nations Human Rights Office has called on Bahraini authorities to immediately disclose the whereabouts of all detainees, ensure access to legal representation, and halt any use of torture or ill-treatment. So far, these appeals have gone unanswered.
Western governments, many of which maintain close strategic and commercial relationships with Bahrain — including basing military assets there — have issued only muted statements. Critics argue that economic and geopolitical interests are actively undermining the international community's response to the crisis.
The Arab League has remained conspicuously silent, reflecting broader patterns of regional governments declining to challenge each other on internal human rights abuses even when violations are acute and well-documented.
What Must Change — And When
Human Rights Watch is calling for an immediate and unconditional halt to arbitrary arrests, the release of all individuals held without charge, and access for independent monitors including the International Committee of the Red Cross to all detention facilities.
The organization has also urged the UN Human Rights Council to convene a special session and consider establishing an independent fact-finding mission, noting that the current situation may constitute crimes against humanity if the pattern of systematic, widespread arbitrary detention is confirmed.
Without sustained international pressure and concrete accountability mechanisms, legal experts warn that the pattern of abuse is likely to continue and deepen as the conflict evolves.
Sources: Human Rights Watch — hrw.org/news/2026/03/19/bahrain-sweeping-arrests-amid-conflict | UN Human Rights Office — ohchr.org | Geneva Conventions — icrc.org | Amnesty International — amnesty.org
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