Bahrain
2026
- GOVERNMENT
- constitutional monarchy
- CONSTITUTION
- February 14, 2002; amended in 2012, 2017
- LEGAL SYSTEM
- mixed legal system of Islamic law (sharia), English common law, Egyptian civil, criminal, and commercial codes; customary law; has not submitted a declaration of jurisdiction to the ICJ
- LEGISLATIVE SYSTEM
- bicameral legislature composed of the Consultative Council and the Council of Representatives (House of Deputies)
- JUDICIAL SYSTEM
- Court of Cassation (composed of the president and 3 judges); Supreme Court of Appeal (composed of the president and 3 judges); Constitutional Court (composed of the president and 6 members); High Sharia Appeal Court (court sessions include the president and at least one judge); High civil appeal courts; intermediate and lower civil courts; High Sharia Appeal Court; High Sharia Court; Administrative Appeal Courts; military courts
RELIGIONS
Muslim 73.7%, Christian 9.3%, Jewish 0.1%, other 16.9% (estimate 2017)
From the country
- JULY 8, 2025BahrainDEATH PENALTY
BAHRAIN: MAN SENTENCED TO DEATH FOR KILLING NEIGHBOUR OVER PERSONAL DISPUTE IN SHAKHURA
The First High Criminal Court has sentenced a man to death for fatally stabbing his neighbour in the Shakhura area, News of Bahrain reported on July 8, 2025.
MAY 22, 2024BahrainDEATH PENALTYBAHRAIN: KING TAKES ACTIVISTS BY SURPRISE WITH PARDON FOR AT LEAST 1,500 PRISONERS
Bahrain has unconditionally released more than 1,500 prisoners, including political detainees, in the biggest royal pardon since the 2011 Arab spring uprising, The Guardian reported on April 9, 2024.
JULY 19, 2022BahrainDEATH PENALTYBAHREIN: MAN GETS DEATH SENTENCE FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING
A Bahraini was sentenced to death by the High Criminal Court on 19 July 2022 for drug trafficking across regional waters.
JUNE 22, 2021BahrainDEATH PENALTYBAHRAIN REJECTS UN CALL TO RELEASE TWO ANTI-REGIME POLITICAL ACTIVISTS FACING DEATH PENALTY
Bahrain on 20 June 2021 rejected a call by the United Nations rights watchdog to release and compensate two anti-regime political activists facing death sentences.
SEPTEMBER 22, 2020BahrainDEATH PENALTYBANGLADESH: 2 SENTENCED TO DEATH 18 YEARS AFTER THE MURDER OF NATORE FREEDOM FIGHTER
Two people were sentenced to death by a Natore court on 21 September 2020 for killing freedom fighter Dr Aynal Haque, also a former president of the Baraigram upazila unit Awami League in Natore.
SEPTEMBER 7, 2020BahrainDEATH PENALTYBAHRAIN: THREE SENTENCED TO DEATH LOSE THEIR FINAL APPEAL
Three men who received the capital punishment for bludgeoning a man to death with a hammer and a brick have lost their final appeal, The Gulf Daily News reported on 10 August 2020.
JULY 23, 2020BahrainDEATH PENALTYBAHRAIN: KING URGED TO COMMUTE DEATH SENTENCES OF PRO-DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS
More than a dozen human rights groups have signed an open letter to Bahrain's king in a last-ditch attempt to commute the death sentences of two activists who were charged with killing an officer by bombing a police convoy in 2014.
JULY 20, 2020BahrainDEATH PENALTYBAHRAIN: CRITICISM OVER DEATH SENTENCES REJECTED
Bahrain has categorically rejected criticism of recent death sentences issued against two people convicted of murdering a policeman more than six years ago, Gulf News reported on 19 July 2020.
- JULY 13, 2020BahrainDEATH PENALTY
BAHRAIN: TOP COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCES AGAINST TWO ACTIVISTS
Bahrain's Court of Cassation on 13 July 2020 upheld death sentences against two activists for bombing a convoy and killing a police officer, after convictions that human rights groups say were based on confessions extracted through torture.
JUNE 17, 2020BahrainDEATH PENALTYBAHRAIN: CASSATION COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCES AGAINST POLITICAL DETAINEES ZUHEIR IBRAHIM, HUSSEIN ABDULLAH
The Bahraini Cassation Court upheld on 15 June 2020 death sentences against political detainees Zuheir Ibrahim Jassim and Hussein Abdullah Rashid.
JUNE 14, 2020BahrainDEATH PENALTYPHILIPPINES: 11 OF THE 16 OFWS PARDONED IN BAHRAIN ARE REPATRIATED
Eleven of the 16 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Bahrain earlier granted royal pardon have been deported to the Philippines, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said on 11 June 2020.
APRIL 28, 2020BahrainDEATH PENALTYBAHRAIN: THREE BANGLADESHIS LOSE APPEAL AGAINST CAPITAL PUNISHMENT
The High Court of Appeal upheld on 27 April 2020 the death sentences handed down by the High Court to three Bangladeshis for committing a premeditated theft-related murder.