Bahrain Mirror: Freedom House listed Bahrain as "Not Free", in its 2015 report about Freedom in the World, released on 26th March 2015. Bahrain's political rights rating declined from 6 to 7, which is the lowest level of freedom on a scale of 1 to 7. The island kingdom also scored 6 on its civil liberties.

The U.S.-based non-governmental organization said that this was "due to grave flaws in the 2014 legislative elections and the government's unwillingness to address long-standing grievances among the majority Shiite community about the drawing of electoral districts and the possibility of fair representation."

The "Freedom in the World Report 2015" highlighted that "the government continued to harass the country's majority Shiite population, violently responding to protests and routinely arresting prominent dissidents." The report also mentioned that "in December 2014, authorities arrested the country's main opposition figure, president of Al-Wefaq Ali Salman, on charges of inciting violence and supporting the overthrow of the government."
Freedom House stressed that "police brutality, including systemic detention, torture, and widespread arrests, went on unabated."

As for political rights, Bahrain scored 5 / 40. The report stated that "the government appears to have manipulated the November 2014 vote, which it touted as a success, with a reported 51.5 percent voter turnout for the first-round of parliamentary elections in spite of the Shiite Muslim boycott, mainly Al-Wefaq opposition group," adding that "the majority Shiite population is underrepresented in government."

Concerning corruption in the country, Freedom House said that "enforcement of anticorruption laws is weak, and high-ranking officials suspected of corruption are rarely punished," adding that "a source of frustration for many citizens is the perception that Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, the king's uncle and Bahrain's prime minister since 1971, is both corrupt and a key opponent of reform."

The Freedom House report did not fail to mention that Bahrain's "government has worked to erode the Shiite majority, mostly by granting citizenship to foreign-born Sunnis. In 2014, the government continued its systematic sectarian discrimination and recruitment of foreign Sunnis to take up Bahraini citizenship and serve in the country's security services. Since 2011, the government has maintained a heavy security presence in primarily Shiite villages. Security forces restrict the movements of Shiite citizens, periodically destroying property, and continuing to arrest government critics and activists."

On the level of civil liberties, the Kingdom of Bahrain scored 10/60. The Freedom House report pointed out that the Bahraini "government continued repression of Shiite religious and political figures in 2014. In January, a Bahraini court officially banned the prominent Islamic Scholars Council following a Ministry of Justice lawsuit that it was an illegal society."

It also added that the "academic freedom is not formally restricted, but scholars who criticize the authorities or the king, or supports the call for democracy are subject to dismissal."

Freedom House highlighted as well that government forces killed protesters, including minors, adding that "the government continues to target children, regularly arresting and detaining minors," and that Bahraini "courts sentenced dozens of protesters to long prison terms for illegally protesting or on suspicion of complicity in bomb attacks."

As for the rule of law and the judiciary in the gulf kingdom, the report stressed that the "king appoints all judges, and courts have been subject to government pressure," adding that "members of the royal family hold all senior security-related offices."

The report also underlined that "The country's judicial system is seen as corrupt and biased in favor of the ruling family and its backers."

Tackling the issue of prisons in Bahrain, Freedom House highlighted "reports of frequent rough treatment and poor conditions in prisons," adding that Bahrain's prisons "are full of human rights and pro-democracy activists." The report specifically mentioned the Raw Prison incident which left more than 40 prisoners injured after a protest the detainees staged against poor conditions and for being denied family visits.

The Freedom House report also stated that Bahrain's "Shiites face various forms of discrimination," adding that "fears of Shiite power and suspicions about their loyalties have limited employment opportunities for young Shiite men and fueled government attempts to erode the Shiite majority."

At the end of the report, Freedom House made mention of the violations of personal autonomy and individual rights, stating that "the government continued to obstruct foreign travel by key opposition figures and activists in 2014. Authorities also restricted movement inside the country, particularly for residents of largely Shiite villages outside Manama." The report highlighted as well the difficulties Shiite citizens encounter and that they face "in some cases bans on purchasing housing and land," stressing that "the Al-Khalifa family has gifted vast swaths of land to regime cronies."