Bahraini court upholds Rajab's jail term over tweet
A Bahraini court has upheld the six-month jail sentence of a prominent human rights activist for posting a Twitter message considered insulting to the ruling Al Khalifa regime’s security establishment, local media say.
The Bahrain News Agency (BNA) quoted the attorney general’s official in the kingdom as saying that Nabeel Rajab had been convicted of “publicly insulting two government bodies,” making a reference to the Interior and Defense Ministries in the Persian Gulf state.
Rajab, the director of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and a co-founder of the [Persian] Gulf Center for Human Rights, has been critical of Manama’s heavy-handed crackdown on that peaceful anti-regime protests that erupted in the kingdom in 2011.
On May 11, Mohammad al-Jishi, Rajab’s lawyer, said the country’s criminal court decided to extend the detention pending further investigation. The Bahrain Center for Human Rights also confirmed the news.
Manama’s prosecutor, Nawaf al-Avazi, said in a statement on April 26 that Rajab is charged with “spreading tendentious rumors” about Bahrain’s support for Saudi Arabia in its military aggression against Yemen, and “attacking a state institution.”
Rajab’s family, however, says he was arrested on April 2 for allegedly posting comments on Twitter, denouncing torture in a regime detention center where Shia activists are held. Bahrain first extended Rajab’s period of detention for 15 days on April 11.
The prominent opposition activist was sentenced in January to six months in prison for posting tweets deemed critical of the Al Khalifa regime. He was initially awaiting the result of an appeal in that case on May 4, but the appeal was adjourned to May 14.
He has been regularly targeted by the Bahraini government since the protests broke out against the ruling Al Khalifa dynasty in early 2011.
Rajab had been freed in May 2014 after serving two years in prison for participating in anti-regime protests.
On January 16, Human Rights Watch and the [Persian] Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR) called on the kingdom’s Western allies to exert pressure on Manama to drop charges against the prominent human rights activist.
“Bahrain’s allies including the United Kingdom, Germany, France and other European countries should publicly call on Manama to drop charges against the human rights advocate, Nabeel Rajab,” the rights groups said.
Scores of Bahrainis have been killed and hundreds of others injured and arrested in the ongoing crackdown on peaceful demonstrations.
MFB/MKA/GHN
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