Human rights activist, Nabeel Rajab, was summoned to a military court just hours before Bahrain was due to lift its emergency law. He is now missing. Rajab is president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR). Bahrain’s state of emergency was lifted today, introduced almost three months ago, the emergency law coincided with the arrival of over 1, 000 Saudi troops who were called to crush largely peaceful Shiite protests.
Yesterday (27 April) a Bahraini military court has sentenced four protestors to death and a further three to life in prison. The seven people were convicted of killing two policemen during protests in the country last month. While the foreign press was barred from entering the courtroom, selected journalists from the state-run media were allowed to attend. The Bahrain Center for Human Rights condemned the verdict and called on the authorities to reverse their decision.
A columnist for the independent Al-Wasat newspaper was arrested on Monday (25 April) after 30 uniformed and plainclothes police officials raided his house. Local journalists have claimed that Haidar Mohammed al-Nuaimi was dragged out of his house and beaten before being transferred to an unknown location. Human rights organisations have called on the Bahraini authorities to disclose his whereabouts and release him immediately.
As Bahraini soldiers — aided by foreign troops — crush protests, youth activist Mohammed Al-Maskati, whose family have been detained, asks the international community to speak out
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