May 2013: OVERVIEW: Despite an ongoing security crackdown, prodemocracy protests continued throughout 2012. While most remained peaceful, there were signs that the opposition was becoming more radicalized. Bahraini courts upheld life sentences for opposition leaders, and the year featured new rounds of arrests and incarcerations of human rights activists, including Nabeel Rajab and Zaynab al-Khawaja. The government promised to meet international human rights standards and implement the recommendations of an official 2011 inquiry, but it failed to enact substantive reforms in practice.
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