British MPs have called on their government to suspend ‘secret' million-pound funding programs for the oil-rich Gulf, which they say could put the UK at risk of complicity in human rights violations in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

14 MPs in the UK Parliament sent an urgent letter to Britain's foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, urging him to pressure on the Bahraini government to release political prisoners.

The Wigan Athletic Football Club agreed a takeover with a consortium led by Bahraini businessman Abdulrahman Al-Jasmi. The takeover, which remains dependent on English Football League approval, is hoped to be completed by 31 March.

First Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abdulnabi Salman, criticized the fact that the majority of Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company employees are from one friendly country, Britain.

Bahrain has received its first delivery of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII), state media said on Thursday.

"Organizers of the UK's largest outdoor horse show, whose most famous fan is the Queen, have agreed to adopt a human rights policy following accusations that the show is being used by the Bahraini royal family to distract from rights abuses," the Guardian newspaper stated.

British Home Secretary Priti Patel was criticized after visiting a police station in Bahrain where human rights activists were tortured.

The British Labor Party condemned the British government's position on the human rights record in Bahrain, after Bahrain's high court upholding death sentences for two pro-democracy activists Mohammad Ramadan and Hussein Mousa.

Representative Adam Schiff, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, expressed his "continued concern" over Loujain Hathloul's treatment in a letter sent to Saudi Arabia's US ambassador, Reema bint Bandar Al-Saud.

Australian MP Fiona Patten described keeping prisoners in Bahraini prisons as a human rights "travesty".

Jordanian Princess Haya bint al-Hussein told London's High Court that she feared her former husband, the ruler of Dubai, would abduct her two children, take them back to the Gulf Arab state and prevent her from ever seeing them again.

The First High Criminal Court sentenced two Turkish nationals to three years in prison, ordered their deportation and confiscation of forged documents, after they tried to travel to the UK via Bahrain International Airport using forged passports and visas.

British Prime Minister's Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief Rehman Chishti spent several days in Bahrain. The British envoy, of Pakistani origin, visited the Bahraini king, met the Foreign Affairs Minister, attended a meeting for the British Embassy and another one in obsequy congregation hall in Manama and gave a false testimony on the diversity environment and religious tolerance which he witnessed in the country.

Diplomats forked out £14,319 to bring eight Bahraini judges and Interior Ministry officials to England, where they also toured courts and probation centres.

A Bahraini political prisoner on hunger strike sent a letter to the British Foreign Office urging them to stop training that is contributing to human rights violations in the Gulf state, reported the Morning Star newspaper.

Human rights organizations called for a vigil in front of the Bahrain Embassy in London for human rights defender Nabeel Rajab, asking for his sentence to be immediately suspended.

Bilateral trade between Bahrain and the UK reached about £1.1 billion (2018-March 2019), according to latest figures revealed two days ago.

The United States, Britain and France may be complicit in war crimes in Yemen by arming and providing intelligence and logistics support to a Saudi-led coalition that starves civilians as a war tactic, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

The United States officially launched its joint maritime security initiative in the Gulf, with the support of Australia, the United Kingdom and Bahrain, as tensions with Iran continue to escalate.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Thursday the United States must observe the 2015 nuclear deal and stop engaging in "economic terrorism" against the Iranian people if Washington wants to meet for talks.