Bahrain: Release and dismissal of charges against Mr. Sayed Yousif AlMuhafdhah

Bahrain: Release and dismissal of charges against Mr. Sayed Yousif AlMuhafdhah
16 November, 2012 – fidh

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Bahrain.

New information:

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the release and the dismissal of charges against Mr. Sayed Yousif AlMuhafdhah, Acting Vice President and Head of Documentation Unit of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR).

According to the information received, on November 14, 2012, the Public Prosecution decided to release Mr. Sayed Yousif AlMuhafdhah and drop the charges of “participation in illegal protests” that had been pending against him since November 2, 2012. Mr. AlMuhafdhah had been detained arbitrarily since that day (see background information).

The Observatory welcomes these new developments and thanks all the persons, institutions and organisations who intervened in Mr. Sayed Yousif AlMuhafdhah’s favour. However, the Observatory recalls that two other BCHR members remain in detention, Messrs. Nabeel Rajab, BCHR President, Director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) and FIDH Deputy Secretary General, and Mr. Abdulhadi Al Khawaja, former BCHR President and former MENA Director at Front Line, and urges the Bahraini authorities to release them immediately and unconditionally, as their detention seems to merely aim at sanctioning and hindering their human rights activities. …more