Bahrain is suffering from a severe human rights crisis perpetrated at the hands of its own government. At the outset of the 2011 Arab Spring, thousands of Bahrainis took to the streets calling for the respect of basic human rights. The government used its security forces to stop the protests leading to thousands of arrests, hundreds of injuries, and dozens of deaths. Since then, the situation has worsened with the dissolution of opposition parties and independent media, mass denaturalization, and the imprisonment of opposition leaders, human rights defenders, activists, and journalists. 

Bahrain broke their seven-year de facto moratorium on capital punishment in 2017 when three individuals were executed by firing squad. Death-penalty cases in Bahrain show patterns of human rights abuse common to many other politically motivated judicial proceedings in the kingdom. For instance, most executions and death penalty cases have several things in common: (1) they include individuals who have demonstrated and/or expressed dissent against the Bahraini government; (2) the charges and sentences are based on confessions taken under torture; (3) anti-terror laws are used to impose death sentences; and (4) all sentences are ordered following unfair trials. There are currently twelve individuals who are at imminent risk of execution. Among them are Husain Moosa, Mohammed Ramadan, Zuhair Ibrahim Jasim Abdullah, and Husain Abdullah Khalid Rashid, all of whom have exhausted all legal remedies and can be executed at any time.  

The growing international awareness of human rights violations in Bahrain may create political pressure on the Bahraini Government to annul these executions. In addition, as a suitable distraction, the Bahraini government usually schedules important rulings and executions on dates when European governments are least likely to pay close attention to them, especially on and around Christmas and summer holidays. This is why urgent action is required: your personal signature in this petition will increase international pressure and consequently change the fate of these people's lives. 

The #ThereIsNoUsandThem concept holds that human rights issues going on worldwide should concern every human being. We all are human beings and deserve the same level of dignity and respect. No matter how far away those violations occur, all nations, and especially powerful western countries, should care and act in response. Our eyes should not be turned away from injustice, there should be no THEM, we are all humans, there is only US.

This petition is co-signed by Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain and the International Peace Bureau.