Mansoor al-Jamri (also Mansour; Arabic: منصور الجمري; born 17 December 1961) is a Bahraini columnist, author, human rights activist and former opposition leader.

A few months after he was born in the village of Bani Jamra, al-Jamri moved with his family to Iraq where his father continued his religious studies.

[6] He studied for five years at the Talibiya primary school which was also attended by some Bahrainis such as Sami, the elder son of Isa Qassim.

[11] Having no TV at home, al-Jamri and his siblings spent most of their time listening to stories told by their mother or playing with kites outside.

[13] In his book Non-scattered memories of Najaf, al-Jamri describes the dire situation in Iraq following the rise of Ba'ath party in 1968.

[17] Although he was mocked by other kids due to his partly Iraqi accent, al-Jamri said he was very happy with the visit as he found his village Bani Jamra much more "open" than Najaf.

[3][22] Trouble followed al-Jamri during his visits to Bahrain as he was questioned by security forces in 1980, his passport withdrawn for a year in 1982 and in 1987 he was not able to find a job.

[28] In 1999, then-Emir (now King) Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa began a reform process and in 2001 exiles were told they could come back.

[29] Rejecting an offer to become a cabinet minister[27][30] and leaving his leading position in the opposition,[31] al-Jamri returned from the United Kingdom in December 2001, eight months after his father had obtained a consent from the Emir to establish two newspapers.

[24][27] Al-Jamri, backed by 39 other private investors (US$5.3 million capital) had initially planned to establish two independent newspapers, Al-Wasat in Arabic and Gulf Observer in English.

[34] Its coverage was described by Committee to Protect Journalists as independent and non-sectarian, however this did not spare it from occasional harassment and political pressure.

[38] According to Margaret Warner of PBS NewsHour, Al-Wasat is the "most popular and profitable newspaper" in Bahrain and al-Jamri's column is a "voice for non-sectarian moderation".

[24] Beginning in February 2011, Bahrain saw sustained pro-democracy protests, centered at Pearl Roundabout in the capital of Manama, as part of the wider Arab Spring.

[40] During the uprising, Al Wasat was a voice for "moderation and prudence" that urged compromise from both sides[3][27] and its popularity reportedly increased by 30 percent.

[30] On 2 April, following a three-hour[23] episode on Bahrain TV alleging it had published false and fabricated news and images in its 26 and 29 March editions, Al-Wasat was forced to close down and had its website blocked by the Information Affairs Authority (IAA).

[36][42] The state-run Bahrain News Agency accused it of "unethical" media coverage of the events of the uprising[34] and the IAA released a 30-page report "detailing Al Wasat's alleged transgressions".

[27][36] Al-Jamri and the two editors who resigned were subsequently questioned[36] and charged with "publishing fabricated news and made up stories... that may harm public safety and national interests.

[31] Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the charges were politically motivated and asked authorities to drop them, allow al-Jamri back to his position and "cease their campaign to silence independent journalism".

[36] The advocacy group added that following al-Jamri's resignation, Al-Wasat's coverage of human rights violations decreased significantly.

[36] "Bahrain's rulers are showing they have no shame by muzzling the one media outlet that was widely regarded as the country's only independent news source," Joe Stork of HRW said.

[23] Mohammed al-Maskati of Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights accused the Ministry of Interior of planting the fake stories.

[51] Al-Jamri also writes a daily column in Al-Wasat and regular articles on politics and human rights for other publications such as Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.