page_title: Bahraini uprising of 2011
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Bahraini uprising of 2011 / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: Sheikh Mohammed al-Barbaghi Mosque being demolished, 2011
context_page_description: The Bahraini uprising of 2011 was a series of anti-government protests in Bahrain led by the Shia-dominant and some Sunni minority Bahraini Opposition from 2011 until 2014. The protests were inspired by the unrest of the 2011 Arab Spring and 2011–12 Iranian protests and escalated to daily clashes after the Bahraini government repressed the revolt with the support of Gulf Cooperation Council and Peninsula Shield Force. The Bahraini protests were a series of demonstrations, amounting to a sustained campaign of non-violent civil disobedience and later some violent resistance in the Persian Gulf country of Bahrain. As part of the revolutionary wave of protests in the Middle East and North Africa following the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia, the Bahraini protests were initially aimed at achieving greater political freedom and equality for the majority Shia population, and expanded to a call to end the monarchy of Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa following a deadly night raid on 17 February 2011 against protesters at the Pearl Roundabout in Manama, known locally as Bloody Thursday.
context_section_description: In April, as a part of the crackdown campaign, the government moved to destroy Shia places of worship, demolishing thirty five mosques. Although many had been standing for decades, the government said they were illegally built, and justified destroying some of them at night as to avoid hurting people's psychology. Among the destroyed was the Amir Mohammed Braighi mosque in A'ali which was built more than 400 years ago. On 2 April, following an episode on Bahrain TV alleging it had published false and fabricated news, Al-Wasat, a local newspaper was banned briefly and its editor Mansoor Al-Jamri replaced. The next day over 2,000 participated in a funeral procession in Sitra and chanted anti-government slogans, and in Manama opposition legislators staged a protest in front of United Nations building.
  On 9 April, human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and his two sons-in-law were arrested. His daughter Zainab who subsequently underwent a hunger strike to protest the arrests, said al-Khawaja was bleeding after getting beaten unconscious during the arrest. That month alone, four protesters had died due to torture in government custody including journalists Karim Fakhrawi and Zakariya Rashid Hassan al-Ashiri. The government initially denied such reports and accused human rights activist Nabeel Rajab of fabricating photos, however a HRW researcher and a BBC reporter who had seen one body prior to burial stated they were accurate. Five prison guards were subsequently charged with a protesters death.
  On 14 April, the Ministry of Justice moved to ban opposition groups Al Wefaq and Islamic Action Society on charges of violating laws and damaging "social peace and national unity", however following US criticism, the government of Bahrain retracted their decision saying they would wait for investigation results. On 16 April, human rights lawyer Mohammed al-Tajer, who represented leading opposition figures, was himself arrested during a night raid. On 28 April, a special military court known as the National Safety Court sentenced four protesters to death and three others to life prison over charges of premeditated murder of two policemen on 16 March. The sentences were upheld by a military court of appeal the following month.
  Starting from March and throughout May, hundreds of workers including labour union leaders were fired from their jobs after the government had encouraged companies such as Gulf Air to do so. The main reasons for dismissals were absence during the one-week general strike, taking part in protests and public display of anti-government opinion. Although the government and several companies said the strike was illegal, the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry stated it was "within... the law". Some workers who underwent investigations said they were shown images associating them with protests. Head of the Civil Service Bureau initially denied those reports, but few months later acknowledged that several hundred have been dismissed. In total 2,464 private sector and 2,075 public sector employees were fired for a total of 4539.
  May
  On 2 May, authorities arrested two of Al Wefaq's resigned MPs, Matar Matar and Jawad Ferooz. Later in the month, the king of Bahrain announced that the state of emergency would be lifted on 1 June, half a month before the scheduled date. Tanks, armoured vehicles and manned military checkpoints were still prevalent in Manama and a number of villages. Small protests and clashes with security forces dispersing them quickly continued in the villages and residents reported living under siege. Hate speech similar to that preceding the Rwandan genocide was reported in a pro-government newspaper which "compared Shiites to 'termites' that should be exterminated".
  The first hearing for 13 opposition leaders was held on 8 May before the special military Court of National Safety marking the first time they saw their families after weeks of solitary confinement and alleged torture. On 17 May, two local journalists working for Deutsche Presse-Agentur and France 24 were briefly arrested and interro
caption: A loader destroying the 400-year-old Amir Mohammed Braighi mosque in A'ali
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