Joint letter urging new F1 boss to launch independent inquiry into Bahrain Grand Prix as human rights concerns continue

We, the undersigned organisations, are writing to you in your capacity as the new CEO of Formula 1 to reiterate our concerns about Bahrain’s use of the Bahrain Grand Prix to “sportswash” the country’s dire human rights record, in light of continuing government repression as well as abuses linked to the 2020 race.

We are disappointed that F1 management has so far failed to address human rights concerns linked to F1 activities in Bahrain. In light of this failure, we strongly encourage you to commission an independent inquiry into the human rights implications of F1’s presence in the country, in particular those abuses linked to F1’s activities in Bahrain.

10 Years of Repression Since the Arab Spring 

In 2011 the Bahrain Grand Prix was cancelled amid international outcry over the Bahraini government’s brutal suppression of the country’s Arab Spring pro-democracy movement, in which security forces killed dozens and imprisoned thousands more for joining protests, as documented by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry.

F1 racing resumed in Bahrain the following year, and over the decade since, the human rights situation in the country has only worsened. Any semblance of democracy has been abandoned as the government outlawed opposition political parties, forcibly closed Bahrain’s only independent newspaper and severely curtailed freedom of assembly, forbidding unlicensed gatherings of more than five people. This has included suppressing protests against the Bahrain Grand Prix year after year. Human rights defenders, politicians, lawyers and other civil society figures face routine harassment and often jail time on spurious charges by Bahraini authorities .

Since Bahrain reinstated the death penalty in 2017, the state has carried out six executions and according to the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) and Reprieve, at least 26 individuals currently face imminent execution, of whom 11 allege having been tortured.

Intensifying Crackdown in 2021

In an interview with CNN during the Bahrain Grand Prix, your predecessor Chase Carey stressed that F1 is “proud to partner” with Bahrain and that this partnership was, in fact, advancing human rights issues in the country. Carey’s statement, which was made despite the findings of respected international human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, on the deterioration of human rights in Bahrain, was a PR boon for Bahrain’s rulers.

In February 2021, as Bahrainis prepared to mark a decade since the 2011 uprising, arrests by security forces included at least 13 children, some of whom were beaten and threatened with rape and electrocution to coerce them into signing confessions. The youngest boy, who celebrated his 12th birthday in a prison cell, was arrested for joining protests against the November 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix. Four of these children were subsequently handed six-month non-custodial sentences over protest-related charges, including a seriously ill 16-year-old with severe sickle cell anaemia.

Another person arrested during the anniversary crackdown was Abdulhadi Mushaima, whose 21-year-old son Ali was the first person killed by police during the 2011 uprising and who has faced years of judicial harassment over his pursuit of justice for his son’s murder. Abdulhadi was eventually released from detention on a non-custodial sentence after being handed three months in prison for joining a peaceful protest in 2019. Nonetheless, his prosecution is indicative of Bahrain’s continued intolerance for dissent and persecution of peaceful protesters.