Throughout 2011, in response to peaceful pro-democracy protests, the Bahraini government carried out a punitive and vindictive campaign of violent repression against its own citizens. Following international criticism of Manama's abuses, including the use of arbitrary arrest, detention, torture, ill-treatment and unfair trials, King Hamad promised to improve things. However, a decade since the royal promise, things have worsened, with torture and the death penalty dramatically increased in this tiny island in the Persian Gulf.