11 Jul 16 | Bahrain, Bahrain Statements, Campaigns, Campaigns -- Featured, Statements
On Tuesday, 12 July 2016, the trial of the prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab was set to begin. His case has been postponed until 2 August 2016. Facing charges related to comments on the social media website Twitter, Rajab may be sentenced to more than ten years in prison. We, the undersigned NGOs, hold the government of Bahrain responsible for the deterioration of Rajab’s health due to poor detention conditions. We call on the Bahraini authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Rajab, and to drop all charges against him.
Rajab is a leading Bahraini human rights defender, well known in the region – and worldwide – for his defense of human rights, and his efforts towards more freedom for all. As a result of his work he has been repeatedly jailed. He is the President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), Founding Director of the regional Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR), Deputy Secretary General of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and is also on the Advisory Committee of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East Division.
On 13 June 2016, in the early hours of the morning, Rajab was arrested without any declared reason. He was not informed of his charges until the following day, when he was brought before the public prosecution and officially charged with “spreading false news and rumors about the internal situation in a bid to discredit Bahrain.” He was then remanded to seven days in custody pending investigation. This charge was in response to statements he gave during past television interviews in early 2015 and 2016.
On 28 June 2016, Rajab was transferred to the Bahrain Defense Hospital’s Coronary Care Unit for an irregular heartbeat. His family was informed that he is also suffering from high blood pressure, a condition for which he was treated two years ago. Despite his weak condition, he was hastily transported from the Coronary Unit back to jail the following day.
Since the arrest, Rajab has been detained in extremely poor conditions in solitary confinement. His cell is filthy, the toilet and shower are unclean and unhygienic, and there is little or no clean water in the bathroom. These conditions have been detrimental to Rajab’s health; he has lost eight kgs in just two weeks. Blood tests have shown that he has acquired both a urinary tract infection and low mononucleosis, and he is awaiting the results of additional screenings. Rajab also needs surgery to treat gallstones and an enlarged gallbladder. He is also suffering from an enlarged prostate and needs to be seen by a hematologist. His surgeries will not be scheduled before August.
On 26 June 2016, the authorities notified Rajab that his first court hearing for another case would be for 12 July 2016. This separate case is related to other tweets and retweets about Jau prison and the war in Yemen, which were posted in 2015. He may face up to 13 years in prison if found guilty, and the authorities have ordered that Rajab remain in detention until his hearing.
We remind the Bahraini government of its obligation to preserve the right to free expression under article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Bahrain acceded in 2006. We call for action to be taken to guarantee and protect the health of human rights defender Nabeel Rajab from further deterioration. We reiterate repeated calls by United Nations officials, and others in the international community, to immediately release Rajab.
The Signatories
Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR)
Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB)
Amnesty Denmark
Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD)
Bahrain Interfaith
Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE)
CIVICUS
Danish Institute Against Torture
European Bahraini Organisation for Human Rights (EBOHR)
European Center for Democracy and Human Rights (ECDHR)
FIDH, within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
Frontline Defenders
Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR)
Human Rights First
Human Rights Sentinel
IFEX
Index on Censorship
International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR)
Justice for Human Rights (JHRO)
No Peace Without Justice
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR)
Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED)
REPORTERS SANS FRONTIÈRES (RSF)
Salam for Democracy and Human Rights
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
For Background Information on Nabeel Rajab, please visit this page, and for any further developments on his case please visit this page as it is regularly updated with the latest information.
08 Jul 16 | Bahrain, Campaigns, Campaigns -- Featured, Middle East and North Africa, mobile
Yesterday, the European Parliament adopted, with a large majority, a resolution condemning recent human rights abuses performed by Bahraini authorities, and strongly called for an end to the ongoing repression against the country’s human rights defenders, political opposition and civil society.
Members of the European Parliament called for the immediate and unconditional release of Nabeel Rajab and other human rights defenders jailed over charges related to the exercise of their freedom of speech. They further condemned Bahraini authorities’ measures to prevent representatives of civil society from participating in the work of international bodies, such as the recent imposition of travel bans on the delegation set to attend the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in June.
In the resolution, MEPs urged the Bahraini government to stop persecuting legitimate political opposition. They condemned the decision to suspend the country’s biggest opposition group, Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, and called for the release of Sheikh Ali Salman, the group’s secretary general whose sentence was increased from 4 to 9 years in May.
The MEPs particularly condemned the Bahraini authorities’ misuse of anti-terrorism laws and mechanisms for denaturalisation as means of political pressure. The European Parliament strongly called on the authorities to reverse the decision to revoke the citizenship of Sheikh Isa Qassim and to “restore Bahraini citizenship to all those individuals who were unfairly stripped of it.”
The resolution also called for the effective implementation of the 2011 recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, the Universal Periodic Review and the country’s own constitutional provisions linked to the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Furthermore, the resolution recognised the risk of impending execution faced by Mohammed Ramadan and Ali Moosa.
Finally, MEPs condemned the agreements on trade in weapons and technologies used to violate human rights and called for the prohibition of exports of tear gas and anti-riot equipment to Bahrain until investigations have been carried out into their inappropriate use.
The undersigned NGOs strongly welcome the resolution as a clear signal to the Bahraini authorities that they must respect their international commitments, as well as their own constitution, and allow their citizens to exercise their basic rights and freedoms, such as freedom of expression and assembly.
We believe that it is of the utmost importance that EU policy and decision-makers assert the respect for human rights and legitimate expression of political dissent as a condition for any further development of relations with Bahrain and GCC countries. The next opportunity to do so will be the EU-GCC ministerial meeting which will be held in Brussels on 19 July 2016.
Please read the full text of the resolution here.
Background:
In what has been a concerted crackdown on civil society, media and fundamental freedoms, Bahraini authorities have in the past month embarked on a series of arrests, impositions of travel bans and denaturalisations of their citizens who have tried to exercise their fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.
These moves include:
- the arrest and prosecution of the prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab;
- the suspension, announced dissolution and the asset-freeze of the country’s biggest opposition party, the Al-Wefaq Islamic Society;
- an increased jail sentence, from 4 to 9 years, for the party’s Secretary-General, Sheikh Ali Salman;
- the imposition of travel bans on journalists and activists, including a delegation of human rights activists set to participate at the 32nd UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva;
- the forced exile of prominent human rights activist Zainab al-Khawaja;
- the suspension of several non-governmental and religious organisations;
- the denationalisation of Sheikh Isa Qassim, the spiritual leader of the Bahrain’s Shia majority population
These moves, and in particular the decision to revoke the citizenship of Sheikh Isa Qassim, provoked a wave of mass protests across the country, representing the largest public outcry since the 2011 unrest.
Signed By
Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain
Bahrain Center for Human Rights
Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy
English Pen
European Centre For Democracy and Human Rights
Index on Censorship
International Federation for Human Rights
Justice Human Rights Organization
Pen International
Reprieve
28 Jun 16 | Bahrain, Campaigns, Campaigns -- Featured, Middle East and North Africa
Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab (Photo: The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy)
Index on Censorship is deeply concerned by news that Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab has been hospitalised while in prison. The former Index Freedom of Expression Award-winner and a member of the judging panel at the 2016 Awards was suffering heart problems, his family said, after spending over two weeks in solitary confinement.
Rajab has been in prison since 13 June and subjected to ongoing judicial harassment to silence his human rights work. Index renews calls for his immediate release and for all charges against him to be dropped.
The Bahraini Institute for Rights and Democracy has outlined Rajab’s current situation:
Human rights defender Nabeel Rajab has been rushed to Bahrain’s military hospital after suffering unprecedented heart problems after 15 days of solitary confinement. The UN’s top expert on torture, Juan Mendez, has previously said that solitary confinement for long durations “can amount to torture.”
According to his family, Nabeel Rajab is suffering an irregular heartbeat. He is currently at the Coronary Care Unit at the Bahrain Defence Force Hospital.
Sumaya Rajab, Nabeel Rajab’s wife: “We raised our extreme worries about the effects isolated detention would have on Nabeel’s health and we were ignored. Nabeel never suffered heart problems before. My husband is a human rights defender and does not deserve this treatment.”
Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Director of Advocacy, Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy: “The Government of Bahrain arrested Nabeel Rajab and jeopardised his mental and physical health solely because he expressed his opinions, documented torture in prison and criticised the human cost of the war in Yemen. Bahrain has criminalised compassion and human decency.”
On 13 June, police arrested Nabeel Rajab, the President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, at his home in Bani Jamra in the north west of Bahrain. Following his arrest, Nabeel Rajab was held in solitary confinement in the East Riffa Police Station. According to his lawyer, his cell was extremely dirty, with many insects, and contributed to a deterioration in Rajab’s health. Police refused to give him a radio which his family had brought for him. On 26 June, police transferred him to the West Riffa Police Station, where the poor conditions continue, including the solitary confinement.
Also on 26 June, Rajab’s lawyers were informed that old charges related to his free expression have been referred to court, with a first hearing set for 12 July for “spreading rumours during wartime” and “insulting a statutory body”. The charges were first brought against him in April 2015 and are being pursued in addition to his latest charge of “spreading false news” on social media, which is still under investigation. The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy condemns the government’s reprisals against Bahraini civil society and call for the government to immediately release Rajab and drop all charges.
On 2 April 2015, police detained Rajab and charged him with insulting the Central Jau Prison administration and undermining the war in Yemen, after he spoke out against widespread torture occurring in prison and criticised the humanitarian costs of the war.
Rajab has been prosecuted multiple times since the 2011 Arab Spring. Rajab was arrested repeatedly in 2012, and served two years in prison between 2012 and 2014 on charges of organising unauthorised protests. Following his release in 2014, Rajab conducted an advocacy tour of Europe. In September of that year he visited the UNHRC in Geneva, the European Parliament in Brussels, and European capitals. On his return to Bahrain in October 2014 following his participation in the 27th Session of the UNHRC, police arrested Rajab and charged him with insulting the army in a tweet. He received a six-month sentence and a travel ban. He was released on bail during the appeal of the sentence.
Following his April 2015, Rajab was held in police custody until July 2015, when he received a royal pardon during Ramadan for his six-month sentence. However, his travel ban remained in place, and his charges were not dropped. The threat of prosecution on these charges has significantly hampered Rajab’s ability to work.
The first charge of allegedly “insulting a statutory body” comes under article 216 of Bahrain’s Penal Code, based on his social media comments about allegations of severe and systematic ill-treatment and torture of detainees in Jau Prison in March 2015. The second charge accuses him of “disseminating false rumours in times of war,” under article 133 of the Penal Code, based on social media posts criticising Saudi-led coalition air strikes in Yemen. Violations of articles 133 and 216 carry maximum sentences of 10 and three years in prison, respectively. Neither of the alleged acts upon which these charges are based were in any way recognisable criminal offences under international human rights law, and both involved the peaceful exercise of internationally protected rights to freedom of expression and to promote and protect human rights.
21 Jun 16 | Bahrain, Bahrain Statements, Campaigns, Campaigns -- Featured, Statements
Nabeel Rajab during a protest in London in September 2015 (Photo: Milana Knezevic)
Index on Censorship remains deeply concerned about the treatment of human rights activist Nabeel Rajab, whose detention was extended on Tuesday 21 June by another eight days. He has been held since 13 June.
“Bahrain’s treatment of Nabeel is reprehensible. It must end its harassment. Bahraini authorities must immediately release and drop all charges against Nabeel. We call on the UK and US to press for his release,” Jodie Ginsberg, CEO, Index on Censorship said.
A former Index Freedom of Expression Award-winner and a member of the judging panel at the 2016 Awards, Rajab has been subjected to ongoing judicial harassment to silence his human rights work.
Arrested at his home, Rajab was charged the next day on Tuesday 14 June with “publishing and broadcasting false news that undermines the prestige of the state” and detained for seven days.
