Naji Fateel
Despite my arrest, the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights continued its activism and intensified it work, including providing assistance to the families of human rights defenders, who havin turn formed their own committees, and began a series of protest events and activities.
Naji Fateel is a Bahraini human right defender and co-founder of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights NGO. He has worked on documenting human rights violations in Bahrain, advocated for the establishment of monitoring mechanisms and promoted human rights, including rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly and association, through his participation in peaceful pro-democracy activities.
His human rights work and previous detention have been documented by United Nations human rights mechanisms. In Opinion No. 65/2022, adopted on 14 November 2022, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) found that Naji Fateel’s deprivation of liberty, which began in 2007, was arbitrary as it was linked to his peaceful exercise of fundamental rights as well as in violation of his right to a fair trial. On 8 April 2024, Naji Fateel was released following a royal pardon that included the release of approximately 1,500 prisoners.
Following the eruption of protests in February 2011 against government corruption and discrimination of the Shi'a majority population, the situation for human rights defenders in Bahrain became even more dangerous and difficult. Faced with widespread protests and unrest, the authorities responded with harsh measures and a crackdown on protesters, civil society leaders, human rights defenders and pro democracy activists.
