MIDDLE EAST and NORTH AFRICA Dr. Abdul Jalil Al-Singace (Bahrain)
Dr. Abdul al-Singace is a prolific writer, blogger, and head of the human rights office of the Haq Movement for Liberty and Democracy, an opposition party in Bahrain. He was an engineering professor at the University of Bahrain until dismissed after his prosecution in 2010. He was arrested in August of that year at Bahrain International Airport on charges of inciting violence and terrorism, on his return from a conference in the UK House of Lords, where he criticized human rights violations in Bahrain. He was held incommunicado in solitary confinement for six months and reportedly mistreated. A month after his release in February 2011, he was arrested again in connection with his speeches and writings during pro-democracy protests, and sentenced to life in prison.