Bahrain: Press Release: Release of Nabeel Rajab must be followed by other measures to put an end to the crackdown on human rights defenders

Paris-Geneva, July 14, 2015.The Observatory for the
Protection of Human Rights Defenders welcomes the release of Mr. Nabeel
Rajab but recalls that it is a positive but insufficient step since the Royal Pardon only concerns one of the three set of criminal charges Mr. Rajab has been facing in the last months.
Yesterday,
King of Bahrain Hamad Ben Issa Al-Khalifa ordered through Royal Pardon
the release of Mr. Nabeel Rajab for health reasons. Mr. Rajab had
already served three of the six months jail sentence he received in
appeal on May 14, 2015, for a tweet (under the charges of “Defamation of
a statutory body” under Article 216 of the Penal Code).
However,
Mr. Rajab still faces up to fifteen years of imprisonment under several
charges all related to tweets: “”disseminating false rumours in time of
war” (Article 133 of the Penal Code, entailing up to ten years of
imprisonment); “disseminating false news causing damage to public
security” (Article 168, up to two year); “insulting public authorities”
(Article 216, three year).
“These
pending investigations represent a Damocles sword which the Bahrain
authorities can use at their will to neutralise the human rights
activities of Mr. Rajab”, said FIDH President Mr. Karim Lahidji.
"While
the release of Mr. Nabeel Rajab is a positive step, he should never
have been prosecuted nor jailed for his legitimate human rights
activities. Moreover, the fact that this release is not unconditional
should be deplored", declared OMCT Secretary General Mr. Gerald Staberock.
In
addition Mr. Nabeel Rajab's release also takes place in a context of
systematic repression of human rights defenders, and just a day after
the new arrest of a prominent political figure who had previously been
released on Royal Pardon
[1],
thus attesting that the repression of peaceful dissent by human rights
defenders, political and religious figures will continue to be the norm
for the Bahraini authorities.
The Observatory
calls on the Bahrain authorities to end its policy of arbitrary arrests
and release all human rights defenders in jail
[2].
This arbitrariness and the continued harassment they face undermines
the confidence the international community has in the good faith of the
authorities in implementing their human rights commitments and in
undertaking genuine and effective reforms.
The
Observatory calls on the Bahrain authorities to act upon the requests
made by the international community, including the European Parliament's
request for “the dropping of charges and immediate and unconditional
release of all human rights defenders, political activists and other
individuals detained and charged with alleged violations related to the
rights of expression, peaceful assembly and association”
[3].
The
Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (OBS) was
created in 1997 by FIDH and OMCT. The objective of this programme is
to intervene to prevent or remedy to situations of repression
against human rights defenders.
For more information please contact:
· FIDH: Arthur Manet / Lucie Koening: + 33 1 43 55 25 18
· OMCT: Miguel Martín Zumalacárregui: +41 22 809 49 24
[1] Ibrahim Sharif, former General Secretary of the National Democratic Action Society (Wa’ad).