You couldn't make this stuff up. The Bahrain News Agency reportsthat King Hamad of Bahrain "won the title of Humanitarian Personality of the Year with absolute majority of votes" in a recent poll conducted by a Kuwaiti newspaper, al-Sharq.

Apparently, "tens of thousands of personalities from the GCC and Arab world" took part in the poll. The report says:

"The participants hailed the role of HM King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in placing the Kingdom of Bahrain amongst economically, scientifically, touristic-ally and democratically advanced countries, highlighting the fact that HM has succeeded in leading his country into a comprehensive revival and development in all areas."

Presumably, since the poll was in a Kuwaiti newspaper, the Emir of Kuwait is wondering why he didn't win the Humanitarian of the Year title himself. Hopefully he won't take that as an insult – otherwise someone may have to go to jail again.

The Bahrain News Agency's report fails to mention how many votes the king got, or how the poll was conducted, so we can safely assume the whole thing was pretty dodgy.

• Yesterday, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon added his voice to those complaining about a Bahraini court's decision to uphold sentences, ranging from five years to life, imposed on 20 opposition activists in the kingdom.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 9 January 2013.