The Ongoing judicial harassment of Sayed Yousif AlMuhafdhah

Bahrain: Ongoing judicial harassment of Mr. Sayed Yousif AlMuhafdhah

URGENT APPEAL – THE OBSERVATORY

8 January, 2013 – World Organization Against Torture

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 judicial harassment of 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 January 9, 2013, Mr. Sayed Yousif AlMuhafdhah will appear before the Fourth Lower Criminal Court to face charges of spreading false information on Twitter. He faces a prison sentence of up to one year and a fine of up to 100 BD.

The Observatory strongly condemns the continued arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of Mr. AlMuhafdhah, and calls on the Bahraini authorities to release him immediately and unconditionally, as it seems to merely aim at sanctioning and hindering his human rights activities.

The Observatory more generally reiterates its call on the Bahraini authorities to put an end to all acts of harassment – including at the judicial level – against all human rights defenders in Bahrain, and to comply with all international human rights standards and international instruments ratified by Bahrain, in particular the United Nations (UN) Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1998.

Background information:

On September 23, 2012, Mr. AlMuhafdhah and other Bahraini human rights defenders who cooperated with the United Nations (UN) received threats of reprisals while they were in Geneva to participate in the 21st session of the UN Human Rights Council. The pro-governmental newspaper Al-Watan accused Mr. AlMuhafdhah and other human rights defenders of “defaming Bahrain” and labelled them as “traitors to the country”.

On November 2, 2012, Mr. AlMuhafdhah was arrested in Duraz while he was documenting the injury of a man who was shot by bird-shot pellets at a protest earlier that day. Mr. AlMuhafdhah was transferred to Budaiya Police Station where he was interrogated about his presence at the injured man’s door.

In the morning of November 3, 2012, Mr. AlMuhafdhah was taken to the public prosecution where he was remanded seven days of detention on charges of “participation in illegal protests”. On November 10, 2012, the public prosecution decided to extend Mr. Sayed Yousif AlMuhafdhah’s detention by seven additional days without providing any grounds or justification for this decision. 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.

On December 17, 2012, Mr. Sayed Yousif AlMuhafdhah was arrested while he was monitoring a demonstration held in the capital city of Manama to mark the anniversary of two protesters who were killed in 1994. On December 18, the Public Prosecutor remanded him in custody in Hooth Al-Jaff prison for seven days pending an investigation on charges of spreading false information on Twitter.

On December 25, 2012, Mr. Sayed Yousif AlMuhafdhah was presented before the Public Prosecution, which renewed his detention by 15 days.

On December 27, 2012, the Public Prosecution referred the case to the Court. …source