31 Dec 18 | Bahrain, Bahrain Statements, Campaigns -- Featured, Statements
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Bahrain’s Court of Cassation has upheld human rights activist Nabeel Rajab’s five-year conviction for critical tweets made from his account condemning Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen and the use of torture at Bahrain’s notorious Jau Prison.
Rajab, the president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and a 2012 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award winner, has been sentenced in all to seven years in prison across two separate trials. In February 2018 he was given five years for the tweets in addition to a two-year conviction in June 2017 for “broadcasting fake news” relating to television interviews he gave in 2015, a conviction that remains upheld.
“Nabeel Rajab has suffered relentless harassment and intimidation for expressing opinions,” Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of Index on Censorship, said. “Index reiterates: opinions are not crimes. Bahrain must immediately release Nabeel and we call on Bahrain’s allies — including the UK — to advocate for this in the strongest possible terms.”
Rajab, known for his peaceful involvement in the Bahrain uprising of 2011, had unsuccessfully appealed the tweet convictions on four previous occasions and this was his fifth and final appeal. He has been in prison on a continual basis since June 2016, during which time his health has deteriorated significantly.[/vc_column_text][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1546244962795-53b7fef4-60df-3″ taxonomies=”3368″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
18 Dec 18 | Bahrain, Bahrain Statements, Campaigns, Campaigns -- Featured
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”80241″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_column_text]We the undersigned call on Bahraini authorities to release Nabeel Rajab immediately, to repeal his convictions and sentences, and drop all charges against him. On 31 December 2018 the Court of Cassation in Bahrain may issue its verdict in the appeal of the five-year prison sentence handed to him for peaceful comments posted and retweeted on his Twitter account about the killing of civilians in the Yemen conflict by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition, and allegations of torture in Jau prison.
We are concerned that the authorities intend to increase Rajab’s prison sentence unopposed, by setting 31 December as the date for a hearing and possible issuing of a verdict, while most Bahrainis and people around the globe will be focused on year-end celebrations. This is not an idle concern, as, opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman was arrested on 28 December 2014 and subsequently convicted and sentenced to four years in jail following an unfair trial. And last month, in yet another case brought against him on spying charges, the Court of Appeal overturned his initial acquittal and sentenced him instead to life in prison.
Rajab has been a tireless champion of human rights for many years, helping to found and run the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, both members of the IFEX network.
He has been detained since his arrest on 13 June 2016. He was held largely in solitary confinement during the first nine months of his detention, violating UN rules on pre-trial imprisonment, and has been subjected to humiliating treatment. His books, toiletries, and clothes have been confiscated and his cell frequently raided at night.
Rajab was sentenced to two years in jail in 2017 on charges of “publishing and broadcasting false news that undermines the prestige of the state” during TV interviews he gave in 2015 and 2016 in which he stated that Bahraini authorities bar reporters and human rights workers from entering the country. He was sentenced in 2018 to five years in prison on charges of “disseminating false rumors in times of war” for tweets about torture in Jau Prison and the war in Yemen.
At its eighty-first session, 17-26 April 2018, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concluded that Rajab’s “deprivation of liberty constitutes a violation of articles 2 and 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and articles 2 (1) and 26 of the Covenant – on the grounds of discrimination based on political or other opinion, as well as on his status as a human rights defender”.
We therefore urge Bahraini authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Nabeel Rajab, quash his convictions and sentences, and drop all charges against him; and undertake a prompt, impartial, independent and effective investigation into his allegations of ill-treatment. The findings of the investigation must be made public and anyone suspected of criminal responsibility must be brought to justice in fair proceedings.
As this case is part of a pattern of abuse and harassment against human rights defenders and journalists in Bahrain, we also urge the authorities to cease all such actions and ensure that the right to freedom of expression and freedom of the press is respected.
Signed,
Bahrain Center for Human Rights
ActiveWatch – Media Monitoring Agency
Adil Soz – International Foundation for Protection of Freedom of Speech
Africa Freedom of Information Centre (AFIC)
Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB)
Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI)
Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE)
Association of Caribbean Media Workers
Bytes for All (B4A)
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR)
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
Foro de Periodismo Argentino
Freedom Forum
Free Media Movement
Globe International Center
Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)
Human Rights Watch (HRW)
I’lam Arab Center for Media Freedom Development and Research
Independent Journalism Center (IJC)
Index on Censorship
Initiative for Freedom of Expression – Turkey
International Press Centre (IPC)
Maharat Foundation
Mediacentar Sarajevo
Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)
Media Rights Agenda (MRA)
Media Watch
Norwegian PEN
OpenMedia
Pacific Freedom Forum (PFF)
Pacific Islands News Association (PINA)
Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA)
PEN America
Reporters Without Borders (RSF)
Social Media Exchange (SMEX)
Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA)
South East European Network for Professionalization of Media (SEENPM)
South East Europe Media Organisation
Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression (SCM)
World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC)
World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers
Amnesty International
Bahrain Institute for Human Rights
Bahrain Interfaith
Campaign Against Arms Trade
CIVICUS
FIDH under the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
Frontline Defenders
Gulf Institute for Human Rights
ISHR
Martin Annals
MENA Monitoring Group
OMCT under the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
RAFTO
Salam for Democracy and Human Rights[/vc_column_text][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1545127071633-da20ca65-6e8f-0″ taxonomies=”3368, 716″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
15 Aug 18 | Bahrain, Bahrain News, Middle East and North Africa, News and features, Statements
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Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab (Photo: The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy)
The United Nations (UN) Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has issued a formal decision declaring Bahrain’s imprisonment of human rights defender Nabeel Rajab unlawful. Rajab – who was arrested on 13 June 2016 and later sentenced to a total of seven years in prison for tweets and media appearances – is arbitrarily detained under eight articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and seven articles of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, according to the Working Group. It finds that Rajab should never have been prosecuted and that Bahraini authorities employed “vague and overly broad” legal provisions to target him for his “political views and convictions.” His detention, therefore, constitutes two different categories of arbitrary detention under the Working Group’s mandate, in that it contravenes his rights to freedom of opinion and expression, and it discriminates against him as a human rights defender.
“Our friend Nabeel has been in detention for more than two years,” said Index on Censorship chief executive Jodie Ginsberg. “Bahrain should release him immediately and pay compensation as urged by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. We hope that these findings will also encourage the UK government to do more to encourage its ally Bahrain to uphold its international human rights obligations.”
Bahrain is urged to immediately and unconditionally release Rajab — a 2012 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award winner — from custody and “accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations.” Moreover, the Working Group concludes that Bahrain’s consistent pattern of arbitrary detention against human rights defenders, activists, religious leaders, and other civil society actors may be approaching crimes against humanity.
Please find the Working Group’s key observations below:
· “Mr. Rajab has been arrested, detained, prosecuted and imprisoned for allegedly spreading false news abroad which damages the national interest and for allegedly spreading false rumours in wartime, insulting governing authorities and insulting a foreign country — pursuant to articles 133, 134, 215 and 216 of the Penal Code. . . these provisions of the Penal Code are so vague and overly broad that they could, as in the present case, result in penalties being imposed on individuals who had merely exercised their rights under international law.”
· “Given its finding that the deprivation of liberty of Mr. Rajab is arbitrary under category II … no such trial of Mr. Rajab should have taken place or take place in the future.”
· “The Working Group cannot help but notice that Mr. Rajab’s political views and convictions are clearly at the centre of the present case and that the authorities have displayed an attitude towards him that can only be characterised as discriminatory; indeed, he has been the target of persecution, including deprivation of liberty, for many years and there is no other explanation for this except that he is exercising his right to express such views and convictions.”
· “The deprivation of liberty of Nabeel Ahmed Abdulrasool Rajab, being in contravention of … the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and … the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, is arbitrary.”
· “The Working Group considers that … the appropriate remedy would be to release Mr. Rajab immediately and accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law.”
· “The present case is one of several brought before the Working Group in the past five years concerning the arbitrary deprivation of liberty of persons in Bahrain . . . under certain circumstances, widespread or systematic imprisonment or other severe deprivation of liberty in violation of the rules of international law may constitute crimes against humanity.”
Commenting, Husain Abdulla, Executive Director of Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB): “This is a landmark decision that clearly indicts Bahrain’s systematic and widespread arbitrary detention of activists like Nabeel Rajab for exercising their right to free expression. The Bahraini government must immediately heed the UN’s call to release Rajab and compensate him for the last two years he’s spent illegally languishing in prison. As the UN’s findings rightly suggest, this is not just a crime against a brave human rights defender, but part of Bahrain’s wider crimes against humanity.”
Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Director of Advocacy for the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD): “The UN has now unequivocally found that Bahrain is arbitrarily detaining Nabeel Rajab in violation of numerous international legal standards – these vital findings cannot be ignored. It is now incumbent on Bahrain’s allies like the United Kingdom, which has so far failed to address Rajab’s case, to publicly back the UN’s demands for his unconditional release. Anything short of that is a tacit endorsement Bahrain’s patently criminal behaviour.”
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05 Jun 18 | Bahrain, Middle East and North Africa, News and features
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Human rights activist Nabeel Rajab has been subjected to ongoing judicial harassment.
Bahrain’s High Criminal Court of Appeal has upheld a five-year conviction for human rights activist Nabeel Rajab for critical tweets made from his account condemning Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen and condemning the use of torture at Bahrain’s notorious Jau Prison.
Rajab, the president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and an Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award winner, has been sentenced in all to seven years in prison across two separate trials. In February 2018 he was sentenced to five years in prison for tweeting, which was added to a two-year conviction in June 2017 for “broadcasting fake news” relating to television interviews he gave in 2015.
Rajab has unsuccessfully appealed these convictions on four occasions and is expected to pursue a fifth and final appeal at Bahrain’s Court of Cassation.
Index on Censorship condemns the imprisonment of Rajab and the relentless harassment and intimidation the high-profile activist has seen since his involvement as a peaceful activist during the Bahrain uprising in 2011, during which time he has been in and out of prison on numerous occasions. He has been in prison on a continual basis since June 2016, during which time his health has deteriorated significantly.
“Nabeel Rajab is being persecuted by Bahrain for expressing his opinion,” Jodie Ginsberg, CEO of Index on Censorship, said. “Opinions are not crimes. The authorities should release him, and Bahrain’s allies – including the UK – should be advocating at the highest levels for his release.”
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