Bahrain, emboldened by international silence, sentences Nabeel Rajab to 3 years imprisonment

Bahrain, emboldened by international silence, sentences Nabeel Rajab to 3 years imprisonment

Bahrian’s Human Rights Activits, Nabeel Rajab, gives a victory sign during an anti-government protest held in downtown Manama February 11, 2012. REUTERS/Stringer

16 August 2012

“The BCHR and GCHR condemn in the strongest terms the sentence passed today against the detained human rights defender Nabeel Rajab by the Bahraini government on charges related to protesting. Rajab was sentenced to a total of three years imprisonment in three cases, to be immediately carried out.

Nabeel Rajab is the president of the BCHR, the director of the Gulf Center for Human rights, the vice president of FIDH, and on the advisory board for the MENA section in Human Rights Watch. He is a renowned human rights defender, and in 2011 he was awarded with the Ion Ratiu Democracy Award because he “has worked tirelessly and at considerable personal peril to advance the cause of democratic freedoms and the civil rights of Bahraini citizens”.

The GCHR and BCHR believe that the only reason for targeting Rajab is to prevent him from continuing his legitimate and peaceful human rights work.

He is already serving a 3 months imprisonment sentence on charges of “ libeling the citizens of the town of Muharraq over twitter”, another case of an ongoing campaign of judicial harassment…”

To continue reading the statement please go to: http://bahrainrights.hopto.org/en/node/5387
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Maryam Al-Khawaja
Acting President / Bahrain Center for Human Rights
Head of International Office / Gulf Center for Human Rights
Tlf: +4581757959