MANAMA (Dispatches) -- Bahraini opposition groups on Monday condemned the imminent mass trial of Shia religious scholars as politically motivated and demanded the release of all prisoners of conscience, as political detainees at Jau Central Prison entered a fourth week of hunger strike and rights groups documented a deepening crackdown.
In a statement issued Sunday and circulated Monday, the opposition said it was monitoring “with concern” the political and human rights developments in the country alongside a continuing deterioration in economic and living conditions, and renewed its condemnation of trials scheduled for November 8 against a number of religious scholars. 
It described the proceedings as “political in nature, targeting freedom of religious practice and preaching” and called on all components of Bahraini society to shoulder responsibility in defending freedoms.
The opposition praised the resilience of detainees at Jau Central Prison as their hunger strike entered its fourth week, holding prison authorities responsible for their safety and lives and demanding that their demands be met and arbitrary practices halted. 
According to Bahrain Mirror, 133 political detainees in Building 2 at Jau have been on open-ended hunger strike, with riot forces storming Ward 2 using batons and pepper spray, and concerns mounting over diabetics and chronically ill strikers being denied medication and insulin.
The statement also warned of economic pressures, saying public debt had exceeded 152 percent of GDP amid declining foreign reserves and eroding purchasing power, and stated that citizens are bearing the greatest burden while accountability for waste and corruption remained absent.
The November 8 trials have emerged as a flashpoint. An organizing committee for a “Popular Day of Rage” called by leading cleric Ayatollah Isa Qassim has urged wide participation, describing the trial of religious scholars on grounds of their belief in Wilayat al-Faqih as a trial of the entire Shia community’s beliefs and warning against the politicization of the judiciary. 
Towns including Sitra, Maameer, Karbabad and Dair have announced readiness to mobilize.
Rights groups have documented the scale of the crackdown. A joint report by SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights and the Bahrain Forum for Human Rights found that 64 Shia religious scholars were arrested between March and August 2026, including 44 detained on a single day, May 9, with detainees subjected to torture, ill-treatment and coercion to extract confessions. 
The report also documented approximately 150 arrests linked to the Ashura season and the cancellation of 103 processions or ma’tams from July 2026 onwards.
The UN Human Rights Committee’s 146th session, running from October 19 to November 6, is assessing Bahrain’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, with submissions documenting the April 2026 mass revocation of citizenship of 69 individuals, the May mass arrest of clerics, and the death in custody of Mohamed al-Mosawi in March. 
CIVICUS placed Bahrain on its Watchlist in July 2026, stating that authorities have been “exploiting the war on Iran to launch a wide-ranging and ongoing series of human rights violations”.