About Article

As a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Bahrain is a strategically significant country in the Arabian Gulf. Against a backdrop of political instability and sectarian tension, Bahrain faces a substantial risk of terrorism. Currently this threat arises internally from extremist Shia opposition groups that seek to replace the Sunni monarchy with an Iranian-style republic. Bahrain also faces a transnational threat of terrorism from the Islamic State. In response to these threats of terrorism, Bahrain has developed a framework of laws and policies that rely on a broad definition of terrorism and provide for significant powers to counter the threat. Its approach has been criticised as repressive and overly restrictive on civil liberties. This article examines Bahrain’s counter-terrorist framework, focusing on the balance it achieves between security and civil liberties. Relying on the principle of proportionality, it is argued that some of the measures, such as the law that prohibits demonstrations within the capital city of Manama, are disproportionate to the aim of countering terrorism. Consequently, it is submitted that the framework could be improved through an explicit and transparent reliance on the principle of proportionality as a policy-making tool