MANAMA (Dispatches) -- 
Bahraini authorities have re-arrested at least nine men who had been released under a royal pardon, holding them in prison over unpaid fines stemming from politically motivated convictions, while security forces blocked Shia worshippers from holding central Friday prayers for the 107th consecutive week.
Human Rights Watch and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy said in a joint statement that the men, previously held on politicized charges, were re-arrested in July and August 2026 over alleged failure to pay fines dating back a decade. 
Among them is Naji Fateel, a prominent human rights defender and co-founder of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, who was seized from his home before dawn on August 18 by plain-clothes officers who presented no warrant. 
Fateel, who had spent more than 11 years in prison before his release under the 2024 royal pardon, was informed his detention related to an outstanding financial payment of approximately $23,700 connected to a 2015 prison protest case.
The re-arrests raise questions about the seriousness of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa’s amnesty, which covered more than 3,000 prisoners over the past two years.
“A royal pardon should open the door to freedom, dignity and reintegration — not become a temporary pause before a former prisoner is returned to the same prison because of financial penalties arising from the very cases for which they were pardoned,” said Nedal AlSalman, director of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.
Separately, the ban on Shia Friday prayers in the village of Diraz reached its 107th week, with security forces deploying armored vehicles and militia units around the Imam al-Sadiq Mosque to prevent worshippers from reaching the site.
The restriction has been in place since October 2024, when authorities cracked down on commemorations for a Hezbollah leader. The February 14 Coalition, an opposition group, said the continued ban constitutes a clear violation of Bahrain’s constitutional guarantees of religious freedom.
The measures come amid a broader crackdown that has intensified since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began in late February. 
Bahraini authorities have arrested more than 600 people on charges including “supporting and endorsing a hostile state,” and stripped at least 69 individuals of citizenship, many of them children, according to rights groups. 
Interior Minister Rashid bin Abdullah this week accused imprisoned Shia scholars of seeking to “dominate the Shia street” and “infiltrate state institutions,” remarks observers warned signal harsh sentences ahead for detained clerics.