(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Bahrain’s justice minister Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa revealed that Manama’s judiciary has issued over 1,400 travel bans in the period between January 2013 and December 2016.
In a written reply to questions by Bahraini parliamentarians, Al Khalifa stated that the number of court cases in the kingdom spiked from just over 44,000 in 2013 to 54,401 in 2016.
1,442 of those concluded with the defendants being slapped with travel bans.
Manama uses travel bans as a tool to systematically censor and suppress dissident voices in the kingdom and prevent human rights defenders from speaking out about abuses at international forums.
According to Al Khalifa, over 16,000 court cases are currently open.
Thousands of Bahrainis have been jailed as part of the regime’s clampdown on dissent, which has only intensified since 2016.
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