Human Rights Watch blasts Gulf Co-operation Council states for suppressing dissent and free speech

‘Human Rights Watch (HRW) has censured member states of the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council for their crackdown on rights advocates and freedom of expression, calling for reforms long sought by the campaigners in the six Arab states.
The New York-based rights organization made the criticism in an interactive website it launched with the profiles of 140 prominent activists from Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The campaigners have been detained, put on trial and handed sentences for voicing their opinions online over the past six years.
“The [Persian] Gulf states have engaged in a systematic and well-funded assault on free speech to subvert the potentially transformative impact of social media and internet technology,” said HRW’s Middle East director, Sarah Leah Whitson.’
Read more: Human Rights Watch blasts Gulf Co-operation Council states for suppressing dissent and free speech