of protesters for questioning, including at least 70 Shi’a clerics and several human rights defenders, charging some with “illegal gathering”. Courts sentenced 11 Shi’a clerics to one- or two-year prison terms on the same charge. FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT The authorities imposed administrative bans that prevented at least 30 human rights defenders and other critics from travelling abroad, including to attend meetings of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. At least 12 of them were later charged, including with “illegal gathering”. Deprivation of nationality and forced expulsions The authorities obtained court orders that stripped at least 80 people convicted of terrorism-related offences of their Bahraini nationality, rendering many of them stateless. In June the Ministry of the Interior also revoked the nationality of Sheikh Issa Qassem, al-Wefaq’s spiritual leader; he had not been convicted of any offence. The authorities forcibly expelled four of those whose citizenship they had withdrawn, including human rights lawyer Taimoor Karimi. An appeal court ruled in March that prisoner of conscience Ibrahim Karimi should be forcibly expelled from Bahrain when he completes his 25-month prison sentence in 2018. TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT Torture and other ill-treatment continued to be reported, particularly of people suspected of terrorism and other offences under interrogation by the police Criminal Investigations Directorate. Unfair trials continued; courts continued to rely on allegedly coerced “confessions” to convict defendants on terrorism-related charges. Prisoners held at Dry Dock Prison and Jaw Prison complained of ill-treatment, including solitary confinement and inadequate medical care. Amnesty International Report 2016/17 IMPUNITY Impunity continued largely to prevail although the Ombudsman of the Ministry of the Interior and Special Investigations Unit (SIU) within the Public Prosecution Office continued to investigate alleged human rights violations by the security forces. Several lowranking members of the security forces were prosecuted, but no senior officers. The SIU said it received at least 225 complaints and referred 11 members of the security forces for trial on assault charges during the year. At least four members of the security forces were convicted and at least 12 acquitted during the year. In January the Court of Appeal increased from two to seven years the prison sentences imposed on two police officers for causing the death in custody of Ali Issa Ibrahim al-Saqer in 2011. In March the Court sentenced a police officer to three years’ imprisonment for the unlawful killing of Fadhel Abbas Muslim Marhoon in 2014, overturning his earlier acquittal. In February the Court of Appeal confirmed the acquittal of a police officer whose shooting of a peaceful protester at close range in January 2015 was captured on film, ruling that there was no evidence confirming the victim’s presence or any injuries found, despite the video footage. In March the Court overturned the convictions of three police officers sentenced in 2015 for causing the death in custody of Hassan Majeed al-Shaikh in November 2014, and reduced the sentences of three other officers from five to two years. RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE The authorities continued to prosecute and imprison people for same-sex sexual conduct under “debauchery” and “obscenity” provisions of the Penal Code. In January and February, the courts rejected applications by three Bahrainis who had undergone sex-change operations abroad to change their gender in official documents. 79