Maryam Al-Khawaja
Head of Foreign Relations, Bahrain Center for Human Rights

As the Arab Spring has swept across much of the Middle East and North Africa, large-scale popular protests have been generally absent in the Persian Gulf except in Bahrain where massive demonstrations have been met simultaneously with a strict government crackdown on dissent and only limited promises of reform. Al-Khawaja discussed the prospects for change in Bahrain, the current status of the protest movement, and options for U.S. policy in this regard.