Other Arab states
Across North Africa and the Arab East, governments jailed, tortured and killed Muslims for their faith or political views. In Libya, Gaddafi's forces shot more than 1,200 prisoners at Abu Salim in 1996. Tunisia under Bourguiba and Ben Ali banned the headscarf in public institutions and held hundreds of suspected Islamists as political prisoners. Bahrain's 2011 crackdown killed protesters, arrested 2,929 people and tortured detainees, and since 2016 it has stripped Shia leaders of citizenship. Algeria banned the FIS in 1992 and sent some 9,000 suspected members to desert camps; thousands were forcibly disappeared in the 1990s.
Key numbers
Who is responsible
The governments of Muammar Gaddafi (Libya), the Algerian army-backed High Council of State and its successors, Habib Bourguiba and Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali (Tunisia), and the Bahraini government and security forces; armed groups such as the GIA (Algeria) and the Houthis (Yemen) as the sources name them; Israel's military in Lebanon.
Timeline
- 1981 Tunisia bans 'sectarian dress', used against the headscarf.
- 1992 Algeria bans the FIS and holds ~9,000 in desert camps; Tunisia's military court convicts 265 al-Nahdha members.
- 1996 Abu Salim prison massacre in Tripoli; Israeli shelling of the UN compound at Qana.
- 2011 Bahrain crackdown: 2,929 arrested, torture deaths in custody.
- 2012 Sufi mosques and tombs attacked in Tripoli, Zliten and Misrata.
- 2016 Bahrain revokes Sheikh Isa Qassim's citizenship; Diraz sit-in raided in 2017, 5 killed.
- 2025 Jordan bans the Muslim Brotherhood.
Records (24)
Tunisia's headscarf ban ('sectarian dress' decree)
In 1981 the Tunisian government issued a decree banning what it called 'sectarian dress', used against the Islamic headscarf in state offices and, from 1985, in schools and universities. The ban stayed in force under Ben Ali and was lifted after the 2011 revolution.
Source: BBC: Tunisia attacked over headscarves · Wikipedia: Women in Tunisia (hijab section)
Military trial of 265 al-Nahdha members
In 1992 a military court convicted 265 members and sympathisers of the banned Islamist party al-Nahdha in a trial HRW called tainted. The last 21 were conditionally released only in November 2008.
265 detained
Source: HRW World Report 2009: Tunisia
Enforced disappearances of the 1990s
Thousands of Algerians were forcibly disappeared by security forces during the political strife of the 1990s, or abducted by armed groups, and never found. The 2006 Law on Peace and National Reconciliation compensates families but makes it a crime to denigrate the security forces' conduct.
Source: HRW World Report 2009: Algeria · HRW World Report 2012: Algeria
Desert detention camps for FIS members
After cancelling the elections in January 1992, the government banned the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) and, by its own count, sent some 9,000 suspected FIS members to detention camps, mostly in the remote southern desert, held without charge. About 700 were still in two military-run camps, Oued Namous and Ain Mguel, in 1993.
9,000 detained
Source: HRW (Middle East Watch) World Report 1993: Algeria · HRW (Middle East Watch) World Report 1994: Algeria
Qana UN compound shelling
On 18 April 1996 Israeli artillery shelled the UN compound at Qana, where about 800 Lebanese civilians sheltered, killing over 100 civilians. HRW said the attack violated international humanitarian law.
100–106 killed
Source: HRW: Operation Grapes of Wrath, civilian victims of the 1996 war · Wikipedia: Qana massacre
Abu Salim prison massacre
On 28–29 June 1996, after a protest over conditions, security forces shot dead more than 1,200 prisoners in Tripoli's Abu Salim prison. The government denied it for years; the bodies have never been found.
1,200 killed
Source: HRW: Libya: Abu Salim Prison Massacre Remembered · HRW: Libya: June 1996 Killings at Abu Salim Prison
2003 anti-terror law used against young Muslims
Tunisia's December 2003 anti-terrorism law had a broad definition of terrorism. Authorities charged many hundreds of men under it, and the number of political prisoners grew as scores of young men were convicted.
Source: HRW World Report 2010: Tunisia · HRW World Report 2009: Tunisia
Political prisoners under Ben Ali
In 2005 over four hundred political prisoners remained incarcerated, nearly all of them suspected Islamists, with credible reports of torture. After the 2011 revolution an amnesty freed more than 500 remaining political prisoners.
400–500 detained
Source: HRW World Report 2006: Tunisia · HRW World Report 2012: Tunisia
2006 'National Reconciliation' law
The 2006 Law on Peace and National Reconciliation gives impunity for atrocities of the 1990s and makes it a crime to denigrate the security forces' conduct; families of the disappeared who protest have been harassed and prosecuted.
Source: HRW World Report 2009: Algeria
Campaign against headscarves
In 2006 human rights groups in Tunisia said women who wear the Islamic headscarf were being persecuted, with schoolgirls harassed and forced to remove it at schools and universities. The authorities denied this.
Bahrain crackdown killings
Between 14 February and 15 April 2011, 35 deaths were linked to the unrest; the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry attributed 13 civilian deaths to the security forces. HRW counted more than 40 people killed in connection with the suppression of protests by late 2011.
13–40 killed
Source: Report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry · HRW World Report 2012: Bahrain
Torture and deaths in custody, Bahrain 2011
The BICI received 559 complaints of torture and mistreatment of people in state custody in 2011 and found that five persons died as a result of torture.
5 killed
Source: Report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry · HRW World Report 2012: Bahrain
Mass arrests under the 2011 State of National Safety
The BICI counted 2,929 people arrested under the 2011 State of National Safety decree, 2,178 of them released without charge. Arrests were often night raids by hooded men with sectarian insults, part of an operational plan of the MoI, NSA and army.
2,929 detained
Source: Report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry
Mass revocation of citizenship
By late October 2017 Bahrain had stripped 455 people of citizenship since 2012, 105 of them in 2017 alone, according to the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy cited by HRW.
Source: HRW World Report 2018: Bahrain
Sidi Abdul-Salam al-Asmar mosque attacked
On 24 August 2012 assailants attacked the Sidi Abdul-Salam al-Asmar al-Fituri mosque and shrine in Zliten, causing heavy damage and destroying 700-year-old texts. The shrine of Sidi Ahmed Zaroug in Misrata was destroyed the same month.
2 mosques & sacred places destroyed
Sufi mosques and tombs attacked in Tripoli
On 25 August 2012 attackers bulldozed parts of the Sidi Sha'ab mosque in central Tripoli and graves inside, while Interior Ministry forces surrounded the area without intervening. On 28 August the Uthman Basha mosque and madrasa in the old town was drilled and 30 graves destroyed.
2 mosques & sacred places destroyed
Houthi hostage-taking and torture
Since late 2014, when they took Sanaa, Houthi authorities have arbitrarily detained, tortured and forcibly disappeared people, often to extort money from relatives. Former detainees described beatings with iron rods and being hung shackled from walls.
Source: HRW: Yemen: Houthi Hostage-Taking · HRW World Report 2019: Yemen
Torture of Islamist prisoners in Roumieh
In June 2015 leaked videos showed Internal Security Forces members torturing inmates in Roumieh prison after a riot in the building holding Islamist prisoners; the interior minister confirmed the videos were authentic.
Source: HRW World Report 2016: Lebanon
Shia leader stripped of citizenship; clerics prosecuted
In June 2016 Bahrain arbitrarily revoked the citizenship of Sheikh Isa Qassim, spiritual leader of al-Wifaq, and dissolved al-Wifaq. More than 50 Shia clerics were questioned or charged after peaceful protests at his home in Diraz.
Source: HRW World Report 2017: Bahrain
Diraz sit-in raid
On 23 May 2017 security forces raided the sit-in outside Sheikh Isa Qassim's home in Diraz, apparently with excessive deadly force, killing five demonstrators and wounding dozens.
5 killed
Source: HRW World Report 2018: Bahrain
Niqab banned in public institutions
On 5 July 2019 Prime Minister Youssef Chahed signed a decree barring anyone with a covered face from public institutions, citing security after bombings in Tunis.
Source: Al Jazeera: Tunisia bans face veils in public institutions
Arrests of pro-Palestine protesters
In late 2023 and 2024 Jordanian authorities arrested and harassed scores of people who joined pro-Palestine protests or posted online, charging some under the 2023 cybercrimes law.
Source: HRW World Report 2025: Jordan · HRW World Report 2026: Jordan
Israeli strikes on Lebanon 2023–2024
Between October 2023 and the 27 November 2024 ceasefire, Israeli strikes killed more than 3,961 people in Lebanon, including 248 children and 736 women, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry, which does not separate fighters from civilians. More than 1.2 million people were displaced.
3,961 killed1,200,000 displaced
Source: HRW World Report 2025: Lebanon
Muslim Brotherhood banned
In April 2025 Jordanian authorities banned the Muslim Brotherhood organization; its political party continued to operate in parliament.
Source: HRW World Report 2026: Jordan