[29][30] This expanded to a call to end the monarchy of Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa[4] following a deadly night raid on 17 February 2011 against protesters at the Pearl Roundabout in the capital Manama,[31][32] known locally as Bloody Thursday.

[79] Inspired by the successful uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia,[80] opposition activists starting from January 2011 filled the social media websites Facebook and Twitter as well as online forums, e-mails and text messages with calls to stage major pro-democracy protests.

[148] A "day of rage" was planned across Bahrain on 25 March[149] in order to move daily village protests into main streets,[150] but was quickly squelched by government troops, while thousands were allowed to take part in funeral of a man killed by police birdshot where they chanted anti-government slogans.

[162] 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.

[171] 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",[172] however following US criticism, the government of Bahrain retracted their decision saying they would wait for investigation results.

[198] On 13 June, Bahrain's rulers commenced the trials of 48 medical professionals, including some of the country's top surgeons, a move seen as the hounding of those who treated injured protesters during the popular uprising which was crushed by the military intervention of Saudi Arabia.

[204] According to the Gulf Daily News on 1 February 2012, King Hamad's media affairs adviser Nabeel Al Hamer revealed plans for new talks between the opposition and the government on his Twitter account.

Dr. Ali Fakhro, a former minister and ambassador "respected across the political spectrum", told Reuters that he hoped to get moderates from both sides together at a time when extremists are making themselves felt throughout the Gulf Arab state.

[224] Rajab was released from Jaw Prison in May 2014 after serving a two-year sentence on charges of "illegal gathering", "disturbing public order" and "calling for and taking part in demonstrations" in Manama "without prior notification".

This was followed by the ruling on the head of the Shura Council of Al-Wefaq Society, Jamil Kazem, for a period of six months A six-month prison sentence was also issued against the president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Nabeel Rajab, with a fine of 200 Bahraini dinars in exchange for a stay of execution pending the appeal of the verdict.

[234] At the beginning of the year on Sunday, the Bahraini Ministry of Interior announced that gunmen had launched an attack on Juw prison in Bahrain, which resulted in "the escape of a number of convicts in terrorist cases" and the killing of a policeman.

Sheikh Ali Salman, leader of the largest legal political bloc in Bahrain between 2006 and 2011, continued serving a life sentence imposed in 2018 based on falsified charges of "spying" for Qatar.

[255] Following the deployment of Gulf Cooperation Council forces, the government stepped up the arrests of Shia Muslims, including many cyber activists, with more than 300 detained and dozens missing, the opposition stated on 31 March.

[274] On 15 January 2017, Cabinet of Bahrain passed a capital punishment sentence of three Shia protesters convicted of orchestrating a bomb attack which killed 1 Emirati policeman from the Peninsula Shield Force and 2 Bahraini policemen on 3 March 2014.

[280] Previously, in May 2011, pro government websites and newspapers targeted US embassy's human rights officer, Ludovic Hood, and published information on where he and his family lived after accusing him of training and provoking demonstrations, being a Zionist and working in cooperation with Hezbollah.

[10]: 299–300 For decades,[293] the Bahraini authorities have been recruiting Sunni foreign nationals in the security forces from different countries, including Jordan, Syria, Iraq (Ba'athists), Yemen and Pakistan (Baluch)[294] in order to confront any popular movement that usually comes from the Shia minority.

The Information Affairs Authority (IAA) lists a number of media outlets that would be allowed access to Bahrain, including the BBC, Financial Times and news agencies such as Reuters and the Associated Press.

[318] The Agence France-Presse (AFP), The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, and the UK's Channel 4 and Al Jazeera all applied for media visas but had their applications denied.

The delegation was to have consisted of representatives of NGOs including Reporters Without Borders, Freedom House, the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, Index on Censorship, PEN International and the Committee to Protect Journalists.

The network is widely credited with helping protests maintain the momentum which resulted in the overthrow of the entrenched regimes of Tunisia's Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Egypt's Hosni Mubarak.

When social unrest began in Yemen and Al Jazeera turned their focus east, Yemeni President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, accused the network of running an "operations room to burn the Arab nation."

[327] Beginning in med-February 2011, Bahrain's main television station, BTV, launched a series of talk shows whose sole purpose appears to have been the incitement of public opinion against opposition sympathizers.

[344] On 13 March, in a televised statement, Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa renewed his call for national dialogue, promising talks would address key demands such as bolstering the power of parliament and that any deal could be put to a referendum.

[349] The King also established the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI), chaired by noted human rights lawyer M. Cherif Bassiouni, on 29 June 2011 to investigate the events of February and March 2011 and their consequences.

[351] Abdul Jalil Khalil, an Al Wefaq National Islamic Society member of parliament, described the 17 February pre-dawn police raid on the Pearl Roundabout encampment as "real terrorism", stating that "whoever took the decision to attack the protest was aiming to kill.

[357] This included licenses for gun silencers, weapons sights, rifles, artillery and components for military training aircraft; at least some of the equipment used by Al Khalifa regime to suppress demonstrations was imported from Britain.

[362][363] On 13 January 2017, it emerged that a controversial multimillion-pound programme of support for Bahrain's security and justice system was being bolstered by a further £2m of British funding, despite the Persian Gulf state reversing reforms to an intelligence agency accused of torture.

[374] Allies of the Bahraini government, such as Saudi Arabia and other GCC member states, have conversely blamed Iran for inciting upheaval in the small archipelago country and questioned the legitimacy of the protesters' demands,[375] echoing Manama's claims.

[389][390] In October 2021, two Members of the European Parliament for France addressed the deteriorating health conditions of long-time detained political opposition leader Hassan Mushaima and human rights activist / blogger / engineer Dr. Abduljalil Al-Singace to the Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian.

[391][392] Bahrain's government has spent millions of pounds on public relations, particularly with PR companies in Britain and the US, with which the regime has close diplomatic, military and commercial links, in an effort to try to improve its bloodied image.