Bahrain’s S&P rating declines, Saudi NEOM project suffers setbacks
On 21st November Standard and Poor Global Ratings lowered its long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on Bahrain to ‘B’ from ‘B+’. They also revised their transfer and convertibility assessment on Bahrain to ‘B+’ from ‘BB-‘. At the same time, they affirmed their ‘B’ short-term sovereign credit rating on Bahrain. They said that Bahrain will continue to benefit from support from other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) sovereigns, which they balance against ongoing fiscal and external pressures. They could lower the ratings if Bahrain’s external or fiscal pressures mount, likely due to a sustained decline in foreign currency reserves, or if they perceive any debt reprofiling, domestic or external, to be akin to a distressed exchange.
The case of Ibrahim Sharif, the pro-democracy leader who was detained by Bahrain’s regime last week has been taken up by many human rights bodies and activists in many countries. The regime is now cornered by this case and is under pressure to release Mr Sharif and end its era of repression. His wife, Farida Ghulam, has been pivotal in taking up his case. She received wide support from inside the country and outside.
On Thursday 20th November, regime’s torturers arrested young native Bahraini, Ali Saleh, from the town of Tubli. He has been on the run for 11 months. He had been sentenced to five years jail for his peaceful activities. The regime used the renewal of his child’s passport as a bait to arrest him when he went to get if.
Protests erupted in several areas of Bahrain on Friday 21st November. Participants raised slogans against arbitrary detention and calling for immediate and unconditional release of the political prisoners. The youths of Sehla town carried the pictures of the prisoners of conscience in defiance of regime’s forces. In Abu Saiba’ town protesters called for an end to khalifi repressive policies. The people of Nuwaidrat town also protested on Thursday night 20th November calling for emptying the prisons and setting the pro-democracy detainees free. The demonstrations continued in other parts of the country.
Regime’s courts have renewed the detention of four under-aged children for two more weeks. Ahmed Al Karzakkani, Hassan Matar, Hadi Abdul Zahra and Ali Abdulla, were preparing to set for end of term exams soon, but they were unjustly incarcerated. Regime’s courts have given another citizen, Hassan Yunus a prison term of six months for his peaceful activities.
Under-aged Ahmed Abdulla Saleh Al Karzakkani has been severely abused by the khalifi torturers at the Dry Dock prison. He told his family that he was physically and psychologically harmed inside the torture offices during interrogation. He was forced to sign a statement he had not written and is not aware of its contents. At the prosecutors office he spoke of his torture but they did not take any action against his abusers.
Young native, Ali Zuhair was detained on Friday 21st November from the centre of Abu Saiba’ town. Two days later, the regime’s prosecutors released him but only after he had suffered abuse and torture.
On 18th November experts at the UN Convention Against Torture expressed serious concerns regarding detention conditions in Bahrain, namely in Jau prison, including severe overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, lack of family visits, and restricted access to medical care. The experts also raised the issue of the continued arbitrary detention of prominent HRDs (Human Rights Defenders), including Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, and highlighted the inadequacy of the existing monitoring system. The Committee strongly recommended that the Bahraini authorities ratify the OPCAT and grant UN Special Procedures unrestricted access to all places of deprivation of liberty.
Despite grand ambitions and a barrage of flashy renders, progress on Neom has been slow. Eight years after the project was announced there is little to show for the reported $50 billion Saudi Arabia has already spent across the region’s 10 huge developments. Following a slew of delays and controversies, reports now suggest that the money has dried up. “We rushed at 100 miles an hour,” a Saudi official is reported as saying last week in The Times. “We are now running deficits. We need to reprioritise.”
The centrepiece of Neom, the proposed 170-kilometre-long The Line, is little more than a scratch across the desert – albeit a very long one. Originally planned to house over a million people by 2030, this projection has been greatly scaled back to 300,000, although even this seems over-ambitious. Austrian architect Wolf Prix’s prediction that a stunted The Line will become a high-end hotel appears to be moving closer to reality.
Mohammed al-Qahtani, a 60-year-old human rights defender and academic remains trapped in Saudi Arabia under a 10-year travel ban, preventing him from reuniting with his wife and five children—all of whom are US citizens— in the United States.
Bahrain Freedom Movement
26th November 2025