A campaign to lift travel bans imposed on expats in Bahrain has been stepped up, with a human rights group now joining the fight.

It is being spearheaded by foreigners stranded in Bahrain, who claim they are effectively being held hostage here.

Almost 150 people have now signed up to a Facebook group set up to support expats banned from leaving the country, many due to financial or legal disputes.

However, campaigners say Bahrain's laws make it impossible for many to pay off their debts - since they are unable to obtain new visas allowing them to change jobs.

The Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society (BHRWS) yesterday (February 1) threw its weight behind the campaign.

"The (Facebook) group and the BHRWS are appealing to those imposing the bans to find a more humane policy of ensuring money owed is paid back," the BHRWS said in a statement.

This would avoid the breaching of international human rights laws of individuals being held in the country with travel bans, it said.

The statement was issued during a meeting between BHRWS secretary-general Faisal Fulad and five core members of support group, who are all banned from leaving the country.

Among them is a man who has not been allowed out of Bahrain to visit his terminally ill father in the UK, while another has been surviving on donations from a local church.

Others include fathers who have not seen their children in more than two years. In most cases those bound by travel bans owe money, but claim they are being denied the opportunity to work so they can pay it back.

"We have nothing against Bahrain and, in fact, if these bans were to be lifted, I'm sure some of us would want to stay here," said one man subjected to a travel ban.

"We all want to repay the money we owe, but the problem is that we are not allowed to work to make those repayments. What can we do? Our visas and residence permits have expired so, essentially, we're living as fugitives,” he added.

Another member of the campaign group claimed the travel ban went against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which Bahrain joined in 1971. – TradeArabia News Service