Amnesty International and the European Parliament have called on Manama regime to free prominent human rights activist Nabeel Rajab.
Amnesty International and the European Parliament have called on Manama regime to free prominent human rights activist Nabeel Rajab.
The two bodies have separately urged the Bahraini authorities to drop charges against Rajab, who been repeatedly detained for organizing anti-regime demonstrations and publishing posts deemed insulting to the Bahraini authorities.
The internationally-respected campaigner was pardoned for health reasons last year, but he was rearrested last month.
The 51-year-old activist is expected to stand trial next week over tweets in March 2015 criticizing Manama’s involvement in the deadly Saudi aggression against Yemen and torture at Bahrain’s notorious Jaw Prison.
“Parading a human rights defender like Nabeel Rajab in front of a court over tweets is a shameless attack on freedom of expression and is a further stain on Bahrain’s already appalling human rights record,” said Philip Luther, director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at Amnesty International.
He also called on the Al Khalifah regime to drop the “absurd charges” against the campaigner and “other prisoners of conscience.”
Luther further noted that the kingdom must halt its “brazen crackdown on freedom of expression” and allow people to peacefully express their opinions.
In a similar development on Thursday, the European Parliament called for "the immediate and unconditional release of Rajab along with other human rights activists, stressing that "all charges against them be dropped.”
It further condemned “the ongoing campaign of repression against human rights defenders, the political opposition and civil society, as well as the restriction of fundamental democratic rights” in the tiny Persian Gulf country.
Rajab, who heads Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), is expected to appear in court on July 12. He faces up to 13 years in prison on charges of allegedly “spreading false information and rumors with the aim of discrediting the state.”
