The Supreme Court of Appeal upheld a first degree verdict ruling the 15-year imprisonment of 3 accused of bombing and setting fire to the Formula 1 petrol station. The court also upheld a 3-year prison sentence against a fourth defendant.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said Saudi Arabia had arrested two rights activists in the first ten days of this year and accused Riyadh of a crackdown on dissent, Reuters reported.

Bahraini rights activist Sayed Ahmed AlWadaei said that security authorities in "Jaw" Central Prison phones this morning the families of 3 death row detainees and asked them to be present at the prison premises. The detainees were accused of a blast claimed that lives of an Emirati officer and two Pakistani policemen.

British daily The Guardian said in a report published Friday (January 13, 2017), that, "The UK government is facing fresh questions about Britain's aid strategy after it emerged that a controversial multi-million pound program of support for Bahrain's security and justice system is being bolstered this year, even as the Gulf state reverses reforms to a key intelligence agency accused of torture."

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and French public radio broadcaster France Médias Monde (FMM) call on the Bahraini authorities to abandon their prosecution of Nazeeha Saeed on a charge of working as a correspondent for foreign media outlets without a permit.

A report issued by the British Government indicated that Bahrain spent more than 16 thousand British pounds for hosting 5 UK Members of Parliament from the Conservative Party, at its December 2016 Manama Dialogue Forum.

The Al-Wasat Newspaper said in today's issue that the 2016 report of National Institute for Human Rights did not refer to the security siege imposed on Diraz since 6 months.

The third minor criminal court handed down 6-month jail term to eulogy citer Mahdi Sahwan over assembling outside Sheikh Isa Qassim's house in Diraz and taking part in an unlicensed gathering. The court acquitted Sahwan of charge of inciting hatred against the regime and set 100BD as a bail to stop the execution of the sentence.

Nabeel Kanoo announced on Thursday (January 12, 2017), that he resigned from him membership at the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), expressing discontent with the interference of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in the chamber’s internal affairs.

The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism closed one of “Al-Jazeera” Supermarket branches in the town of Janabiyah, under a 15-day administrative shutdown. The Ministry referred its managers to the Public Prosecution, one day after closing five branches of the Ruyan Commercial Centre.

The World Bank expected that Bahrain’s budget deficit in the next three years will continue, before it is reduced to around 0% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2019.

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) denounced the Bahraini authorities’ detention of mentally-challenged citizen, Kameel Ahmad Hamida, on December 13, 2016, demanding his immediate and unconditional release.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in its 2017 World Report that “Bahrain stepped up its repression of activists and government critics during 2016”.

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) demanded that detainee Elias Al-Mullah (25 years old), who suffers from stage 3 cancer, receives proper medical treatment, and that his family is given his recent up-to-date medical reports on his condition.

Airbus group handed on Wednesday the Iranian Airlines Company first plane of the hundred aircrafts order after the nuclear deal with the major powers, which stipulates easing the economic sanctions on Tehran.

It is incomprehensible how the authorities allow themselves to vilify civilian suspects, while covering up for mercenaries from the police force, whose crime poses a greater and more dangerous threat.

The Middle East Eye website said that the British military “has provided training to a Saudi war crimes investigations unit headed by a Bahraini judge accused of sentencing peaceful protesters to lengthy jail terms, where they were often tortured.”

The First High Criminal Court sentenced 3 defendants to 1 year in prison over acquiring arms and ammunitions, fined each of them 200 BD and ordered the confiscation of seized arms and ammunitions.

The First High Criminal Court sentenced 2 defendants to 5 years in prison over beating another man, claiming that he works as an informant.

Iraqi forces made new advances against Islamic State in eastern Mosul and fought the militants in areas near the Tigris river on Wednesday, military officials said, keeping up the momentum of a renewed offensive in the jihadists' last major Iraqi stronghold.