Bahraini activist detained for fighting for freedom of speech: Amnesty

Amnesty International has denounced the continued detention of prominent Bahraini human rights activist and pro-democracy campaigner Nabeel Rajab, stressing that the Manama regime is keeping him behind for no reason other than the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression.

The London-based non-governmental organization, in a post published on its Arabic Twitter page, called on Bahraini authorities to immediately and unconditionally release the 52-year-old president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Arabic-language Lualua TV network reported on Wednesday.

It added that the “prisoner of conscience” must not be subjected to torture or any form of ill-treatment, stressing that constant contact with family members and lawyers of choice in addition to access to adequate health care must be offered to Rajab.

Bahrain’s High Court of Appeal decided late last month to uphold a two-year jail term against Rajab in an attempt to suppress his fundamental right to freedom of opinion.

The charges stem from Rajab’s television interviews with foreign journalists, where he shed light on the grim situation of human rights in Bahrain and said the Manama regime does not allow human rights rapporteurs to enter the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom.

He faces a further 15 years in prison over a separate set of charges related to his criticism of the ruling Al Khalifah family and the Wahhabi ideology.

On November 19, a Manama court postponed until December 31 the trial of the prominent Bahraini human rights activist.

On December 22, 2016, Bahraini authorities accused Rajab of making comments that “harm the interests” of the Manama regime and other Persian Gulf kingdoms through an article attributed to him and published by French daily Le Monde.

The article slammed the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group for their crimes against humanity. It also condemned Persian Gulf Arab countries for their failure to stop the spread of the violent Wahhabi ideology.

Read more:

• Amnesty: Top Bahraini activist's sentence unfair

Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the country in mid-February 2011.

They are demanding that the Al Khalifah dynasty relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established.

Manama has gone to great lengths to clamp down on any sign of dissent. On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to assist Bahrain in its crackdown.

Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or got arrested as a result of the Al Khalifah regime’s crackdown.

On March 5, Bahrain’s parliament approved the trial of civilians at military tribunals in a measure blasted by human rights campaigners as being tantamount to imposition of an undeclared martial law countrywide.   

Bahraini monarch King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah ratified the constitutional amendment on April 3.

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