
Beirut - Paris - Geneva, January 25, 2018: According to a credible confidential source,
Bahraini authorities have planned to interfere with prominent rights activist
Nabeel Rajab’s medication in a clear attempt to threaten his security and
integrity. The Bahraini authorities should immediately and unconditionally
release him.
“This attempted
attack on Nabeel’s health is certainly not random”, said today the Observatory
for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (FIDH - OMCT partnership) and the
Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR). “It falls at a time when the government
has tried to keep him under tight surveillance to prevent him from speaking
out. The authorities couldn’t stop him from speaking out to defend human rights
so they might be looking at other ways to silence him for good”. The situation
is even more worrisome as Nabeel Rajab
needs surgery and has no choice but to take the medication he is given.
“Bahrain has been cracking down on our friend and
Deputy Secretary General, Nabeel Rajab for years with abusive tactics,” said Dimitris
Christopoulos, FIDH President. “Recently
alarming signals have multiplied raising security concerns regarding his
detention condition. The government should put a stop to these tactics, and
immediately release him. We seriously fear for his life”, he
added.
“The Bahraini authorities should allow an international independent
medical examination of Nabeel Rajab and the results of this examination to be
duly recorded and accessible by his family. Nabeel Rajab’s life is at serious
risk and he should receive urgently the medical treatment he needs by a trusted
medical institution,” said Gerald Staberock, OMCT Secretary General.
In the last
months, a number of prominent dissidents and activists have become seriously
ill in detention in Bahrain, and have been denied independent, adequate and
trusted care. Authorities have detained, imprisoned, tortured, intimidated,
stripped of their nationality, or forced into exile many people who peacefully
opposed or openly criticized the authorities’ actions and policies. The
authorities have also have shut down numerous independent media outlets.
“Authorities should immediately release him and allow
him to seek medical care freely from a doctor of his choice”, said Maytham Al Salman, BCHR Special Advisor. “There are fewer and fewer human rights defenders able to work in
Bahrain, and they do so at great risks, even in detention, as demonstrated by this case” he added.
“The harassment of Nabeel Rajab is
intended to silencing the whole Bahraini society”.
The
Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was
created in 1997 by FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). The
objective of this programme is to intervene to prevent or remedy situations of
repression against human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members
of ProtectDefenders.eu, the
European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international
civil society.
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