Country Report on Terrorism 2023 - Chapter 1 - Bahrain

Overview:  The United States and Bahrain continued close counterterrorism cooperation in 2023.  In September, U.S. Secretary of State Blinken and Bahrain’s Crown Prince/Prime Minister Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa signed the Comprehensive Security Integration and Prosperity Agreement (or C-SIPA) in Washington, a strategic security and economic framework to promote cooperation across the defense and security, trade and investment, and science and technology sectors.  Bahrain continued to support efforts to counter Iran’s malign activities in the region and acted as a global counterterrorism (CT) partner.

Bahrain hosts the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet and the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command headquarters, as well as the International Maritime Security Construct and the Combined Maritime Forces multilateral maritime security coalitions.  In December, U.S. Secretary of Defense Austin announced in Bahrain the launch of Operation Prosperity Guardian with participation from 20 countries, including Bahrain, to protect commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden and defend shipping lanes from Houthi attacks emanating from Yemen.

During the third U.S.-Bahrain Strategic Dialogue, held both virtually and in person in June and July, the United States and Bahrain reviewed efforts to counter emerging and transnational threats by expanding CT assistance and training, cybersecurity, border security programs, and law enforcement collaboration.

In June, U.S. DHS Secretary Mayorkas and Bahrain’s interior minister signed an MOU on combating and preventing human trafficking and discussed enhancing the cybersecurity partnership between Bahrain’s National Cybersecurity Center and the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency under the 2022 MOU between DHS and the Ministry of Interior (MOI).

In partnership with Embassy Manama and the CT Bureau, the Department of State Diplomatic Security’s Antiterrorism Assistance (DS/ATA) program conducted five training courses designed to enhance Bahrain’s capabilities to investigate terrorist incidents:  Airport Security Management, Advanced Social Media Investigations, Investigating the Dark Web, Open-Source Intelligence Collection and Analysis, and Advanced Open-Source Intelligence and Analysis.  In addition, the DS/ATA-granted explosive detection K-9s strengthened the MOI’s capacity to conduct effective explosive detection operations.  The Department of State continued to invest in the K-9 program to maintain the health and welfare of the explosive detection K9 population in Bahrain, including K9 health and welfare validation visits by DS/ATA experts to ensure proper veterinary standards.

Bahraini prosecutors participated in the DOJ’s Overseas Prosecutorial Development Assistance and Training’s two-day regional cryptocurrency conference in Manama in February and in an October regional conference in Doha on defeating terrorism financing.

In March, experts from the Treasury Department, the Internal Revenue Service, and a leading U.S. blockchain analysis firm trained personnel from the Central Bank of Bahrain as well as Bahrain’s Financial Intelligence National Center on investigating criminal cases, using data from cryptocurrency transactions.  In June, Treasury led trainings to build Bahrain’s capacity to respond to suspicious transaction reports; in July, Treasury helped experts at the Central Bank of Bahrain develop new bank examination skills.

2023 Terrorist Incidents:  There were no terrorist attacks reported in Bahrain in 2023.

Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security:  Bahrain enacted edict 14 on implementing national terrorist designations and UNSC resolutions and edict 148 to implement the 2001 law on combating money laundering and terrorist financing.  In September, Bahrain reconstituted the Committee to Combat Extremism, Terrorism, and its Financing and Money Laundering, led by the minister of interior, and continued efforts under the National Committee on the Prohibition of Weapons of Mass Destruction led by the minister of foreign affairs.

The Public Prosecution Office’s 2023 annual report announced that its Terrorism Crimes Unit prosecuted seven terrorism cases, 23 corruption cases, 56 tax evasion cases, 11 money laundering cases, and 3,831 cybersecurity cases during the year.

Domestic security forces conducted numerous operations to preempt and disrupt attack planning.  In September, five Bahraini servicemen were killed as a result of a Houthi drone attack against the Saudi-led coalition in Saudi Arabia near the border with Yemen.  In February the Al-Toufan group conducted denial of service cyberattacks targeting the websites of Bahrain’s international airport, the state news agency, and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry to mark the 12th anniversary of the Arab Uprising protests in Bahrain.  In November the same group targeted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Information Affairs websites, claiming the attacks were in protest of Bahrain’s position on the Israel-Hamas war.

On January 12, Bahrain published in the Official Gazette the list of 363 terrorist individuals and organizations, which included 67 additions from the previous year, following a January 2 Cabinet decision to implement UNSC resolutions on counterterrorism and nonproliferation.  Bahrain included Jamaat Al Houthi, al-Ashtar Brigades, the February 14 Coalition, Bahraini Hizballah, Al Mukhtar Brigades, Bahrain Freedom Movement, the Popular Resistance Brigades, as well as the Iran-based leaders of Al Wafa Islamic Movement Murtadha Al Sindi and Ahmed Al Hassan Al Daasaki on the list.

On January 15 a criminal court sentenced seven Bahrainis to life in prison (which in Bahrain means 25 years) on terrorism charges related to a 2021 case against al-Ashtar Brigades, a Department of State-designated foreign terrorist organization.  According to court documents, the individuals traveled to Iran and Iraq in 2019 and received militia training in camps associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.  The seven were among 21 people found guilty of plotting terrorist attacks from 2019 to 2021 in Bahrain.

In February a criminal high court sentenced three individuals, already being held in Jau Prison to life, while seven others received seven years in prison for aiding an escape in November 2022.  The 10 Jau prisoners already were spending life sentences for terrorism-related charges and for links with the Bahraini Hizballah terrorist cell.

On June 3, the MOI released prisoner Ali Hajji, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison for attempting a 2013 terrorist attack on U.S. Naval Forces in Bahrain, under the alternative sentencing program – a rehabilitation and reintegration program.

Countering the Financing of Terrorism:  Bahrain is a member of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (or MENAFATF), and its Financial Intelligence Unit, the Financial Intelligence National Center (FINC) is a member of the Egmont Group.  Bahrain is also a member of the regional Terrorist Financing Targeting Center (TFTC).

In 2023 the TFTC sponsored eight executive committee meetings and capacity building workshops.  The executive committee meetings were responsible for approving joint sanctions among the TFTC members.  Capacity building workshops throughout the year focused on leveraging public-private partnerships to strengthen anti-money laundering and countering-the-financing-of-terrorism regimes, virtual asset regulations, a presentation by UN 1267 Monitoring Team to highlight the means that ISIS-Somalia and al-Shabaab use to finance their malign activities across the continent, and a two-day DOJ-led symposium on terrorist financing prosecutions.  In January the chief executive of the FINC was selected as the vice-chair of the Egmont Group for a two-year term.

Countering Violent Extremism:  Bahrain conducted public outreach initiatives such as the community police program, which works to build relations primarily between Bahraini Shia youth and police forces.  The MOI continued to implement the Bahrainouna (“Our Bahrain”) initiative to promote a shared national Bahraini identity.

In February, the MOI’s Anti-Violence and Addiction Program (Ma’an), launched in 2011 in partnership with DARE International, introduced a weekly class in Bahraini schools on countering violence and promoting coexistence and cybersecurity.  In June the interior minister inaugurated the Ma’an peaceful coexistence and combating “extremism” curriculum, developed in partnership with the University of North Carolina, at DARE International’s 40th anniversary event in Washington.  DARE’s CEO announced the establishment of an international, MOI-affiliated training center to combat “extremism” in Bahrain.

International and Regional Cooperation:  Bahrain is a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the Arab League.  Bahrain hosts the Combined Maritime Forces multilateral anti-piracy coalition; in June, senior officials from 22 countries and organizations participated in a maritime security meeting hosted by U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain to enhance regional maritime security.  As of December, the Bahrain Defense Force maintained small, deployed elements in Yemen and Saudi Arabia as part of the Saudi-led coalition against the Iran-backed Houthi militants and al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula.

Bahrain participated in the U.S.-GCC Ministerial meeting held in Riyadh in June and helped negotiate the final statement of the February U.S.-GCC Counterterrorism Working Group meeting.  In February a Bahraini diplomat was seconded as a Strategic Communications Advisor for the Middle East to the Counter-Daesh Communications Cell located within the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.  Bahrain is a member of the Defeat-ISIS Coalition and participated in the Coalition’s Africa Focus Group in March.

During the September International Atomic Energy Agency’s General Conference in Vienna, Bahrain signed the second edition of the Country Program Framework (2024-29) regarding technical cooperation with the agency.