By Iqbal Jassat
Ebrahim Sharif is a prominent Bahraini activist, opposition leader, and human rights defender. (Photo: ADHRB)
Bahrain jails activist Ebrahim Sharif for criticizing Israel, highlighting repression of pro-Palestine voices, criminalization of dissent, and the regime’s alignment with Israel.
Bahrain, one of the Arab world’s most despotic regimes, has jailed a prominent human rights activist for the so-called “crime” of criticizing Israel.
Though Ebrahim Sharif’s imprisonment is a travesty of justice, it is symptomatic of the regime’s iron-fisted rule and openly pro-Israel stance.
Bahrain’s ruling monarchy has outlawed criticism of its deeply unpopular ties with the settler-colonial regime, particularly following its embrace of the so-called “Abraham Accords” and the policy of “normalization.”
Is the targeting of Sharif intended to intimidate anti-normalization activists?
It seems so, as reports reveal that Sharif has been in prison since November 2025 on alleged charges of “spreading false news on social media” and “making offensive remarks against sister Arab states and their leaders.”
However, just a week ago, he was hauled before Bahrain’s Criminal Court and handed a fine and a six-month jail sentence.
The charges against him are not only ludicrous; they are entirely devoid of reason.
Reports indicate that, according to the court, Sharif stated in an interview with Lebanese Lua Lua TV in Beirut that Arab states had failed to support the Palestinian cause.
In the interview, Sharif denounced Arab leaders who are gradually normalizing diplomatic ties with the Israeli regime.
Sharif had “made statements containing false and offensive information about Arab countries, accusing them of collusion and conspiracy, and calling on their people to resist and rise up against their governments,” Bahrain’s public prosecutor’s office claimed in a statement posted on Instagram.
Given widespread public outrage against Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Sharif’s outspoken stance in defense of Palestinian rights has the potential to mobilize broader support among activists.
From media coverage, we learn that the normalization of Manama–Tel Aviv diplomatic ties has been met with strong criticism from pro-Palestine campaigners in Bahrain and beyond, with anger over the move dramatically escalating after the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in October 2023.
Sharif was arrested at Bahrain International Airport on November 12, 2025, upon his arrival from Beirut, where he had attended the Arab National Conference.
This is the tenth time Bahraini authorities have arrested, interrogated, or prosecuted Sharif since 2011, all for exercising his right to peaceful assembly and free speech.
Fifteen years ago, he was sentenced to five years in prison following his participation in the peaceful 2011 uprising in Bahrain.
The authorities held him incommunicado for months, sometimes in solitary confinement, with no access to family members, before his first appearance before a special military court.
On his current jailing, according to Middle East Eye, the advocacy director at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, said the move marked a “new low” for the Bahraini government.
“This sentence sets a chilling precedent: a prominent public figure is being criminalized for standing with Palestine and challenging governments that have normalized relations amid Israel’s genocide,” he said in a statement.
“It signals a grave escalation in Bahrain’s assault on free expression and marks a new low for the Bahraini government.”
Bahrain’s unelected monarchy shares with Israel a deep enmity toward Iran and relies heavily on the United States, which stations its Fifth Fleet on the tiny but strategic archipelago.
– Iqbal Jassat is an Executive Member of the South Africa-based Media Review Network. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle. Visit: www.mediareviewnet.com
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