On 7 May, Parliament expelled three lawmakers after they voted against a 2024 royal decree law during its parliamentary review. The decree had removed judicial oversight over citizenship decisions and made such matters subject to executive authority without the possibility of legal appeal. The lawmakers argued that the measure weakened due process and reduced safeguards against arbitrary citizenship revocations. The government defended the expulsion on national security grounds, accusing the MPs of opposing citizenship revocation measures taken against individuals alleged to have supported or sympathized with Iran. While the expulsions were framed as a disciplinary response, rights groups and observers criticized them as a sign of declining freedom of expression, parliamentary independence, and checks on executive power.

Sources: Middle East Eye, Bahrain News Agency, Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, New Lines Magazine

On 29 April, a royal order extended the current term of the National Assembly—comprising the elected Council of Representatives and the appointed Shura Council—by one year. This decision postpones the end of the sixth legislative term to December 2027 and delays the next parliamentary elections to the Council of Representatives beyond the standard four-year cycle.

Sources: Bahrain News Agency, Alayam

On 6 March, the Interior Ministry announced a ban on public protests. The move came after several days of demonstrations and online expressions of dissent in relation to the strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran. Human rights groups reported dozens of people were arrested around the same time for taking part in or filming protests, as well as for posting critical content online. Authorities, for their part, have described those detained as posing ‘security concerns,’ pointing to alleged support for Iran or suspicions of espionage, and have described the measures as needed to ‘preserve public safety.’ In practice, the ban is likely to disproportionately impact the country's large Shia community, given its prominent role in past protest movements and prior patterns of enforcement.

Sources: Human Rights Watch, Middle East Eye, Associated Press, IFEX, Al Monitor, France 24

On 8 April, Bahrain released 1,584 prisoners, including a number of political prisoners, in what was the largest royal pardon since the 2011 Arab spring, when Bahrain experienced a series of mass anti-government protests. According to a government spokesperson, 65 per cent of the released prisoners were convicted of rioting and, of these, some were reported to have been serving life sentences connected with the 2011 protests. Thousands of protesters, journalists and activists are thought to have been imprisoned in Bahrain in the wake of the Arab Spring and it is estimated that many political prisoners remain in detention (more than 600 are thought to be incarcerated in Jau prison, the country’s largest male detention facility). The prisoner release coincided with celebrations of Eid and the King’s silver jubilee, but commentators have speculated that it may have been motivated by a desire to assuage the human rights concerns of its US and UK allies and to reduce domestic tensions over the country’s normalized relationship with Israel.   

Sources: Reuters, The New Arab, The Guardian, Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy