High Criminal Court postpones the trial of human rights defender Nabeel Rajab to 31 October

BHR 006 / 0812 / OBS048.25

Arbitrarydetention /

Criticalhealth condition /

Judicialharassment

Bahrain

October7, 2016

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, apartnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), hasreceived new information and requests your urgent intervention in the followingsituation in Bahrain.

New information:

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the decisionof the High Criminal Court to postpone the trial of Mr. Nabeel Rajab, President of theBahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) and FIDH Deputy Secretary General, toOctober 31st, 2016.

According to theinformation received, onOctober 6, 2016, the High Criminal Court decided after a five minutes hearingto postpone the trial to October 31st, without providing anyjustification.

At the beginning of the hearing, instead of issuing the judgment, the Judgestated that the Court had taken note of the request submitted by Mr. NabeelRajab’s lawyers to receive copies of their client’s medicalrecord and had decided to adjourn the case even.

Before the hearing,Mr. Rajab’s lawyers asked the Court a copy of his medical reports after theMinistry of Interior and the Public Prosecution failed to provide them, inclear violation of Mr. Rajab’s right to be informed of his own healthcondition.

This decision comesthree days after Mr. Nabeel Rajab underwent surgery toremove his gallbladder. The surgery would result from Mr. Rajab’s poordetention conditions since his arrest in June 2016.

The trial relates to charges regarding comments posted by Mr. Rajab on Twitterin 2015 about conditions of detention in Jaw prison and the war in Yemen. Ifconvicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison, for which he had already beendetained from April 2 to July 13, 2015. Charges include the following:“disseminating false rumours in time of war” (Article 133 of the Penal Code[1]),“insulting a statutory body” (Article 216 of the Penal Code[2]) and“offending a foreign country [Saudi Arabia]” (under Article 215 of the PenalCode) (see background information).

The Observatorydenounces the continued arbitrary detention of Mr.Nabeel Rajab, which seems to be yet another evidence of a long-standing patternof harassment against him to sanction his legitimate human rights activity, anddeplores the degrading conditions of detention of Mr. Nabeel Rajab as well ashis deteriorating health condition.

The Observatory calls upon the Bahraini authorities to immediately andunconditionally release Mr. Nabeel Rajab, and to put an end to any act ofharassment against him - and more generally against all human rights defendersin Bahrain.

Background information:

Mr. Rajab has faced continuous judicial harassment for his legitimatehuman rights work since his first arrest in June 2012. On July 9, 2012, Mr.Rajab was sentenced to three months' imprisonment for allegedly libelling theresidents of Al Muharraq via several tweets posted on his twitter account. OnAugust 23, 2012, Mr. Rajab was acquitted by the Higher Appeal Court.

On August 16, 2012, the Lower Criminal Court sentenced Mr. Rajab tothree years of imprisonment in relation to three cases related to hisparticipation in peaceful gatherings in favour of fundamental freedoms anddemocracy. In December 2012, the Appeals Court reduced the sentence to twoyears of imprisonment. Mr. Nabeel Rajab completed his sentence and was releasedin May 2014.

On October 1, 2014, Mr. Nabeel Rajab was summoned and remanded indetention by the General Directorate of Anti-Corruption and Economic andElectronic Security of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for“insulting a public institution” under Article 216 of the Penal Code. The caserelated to a tweet he published in September 2014, in which he criticised themilitary institutions for generating extremist ideologies (the “terrorismtweet” case). On November 2, 2014, the Third Lower Criminal Court ordered Mr.Rajab’s release but barred him from leaving the country.

On January 20, 2015, the Third Lower Criminal Court sentenced Mr. NabeelRajab to six months' imprisonment on the charges of “insulting publicinstitutions and the army”, pursuant to Article 216 of the Penal Code.

In 2015, two other criminal charges were brought against Mr. Rajab. OnFebruary 26, 2015, Mr. Rajab was summoned for investigations for charges of“inciting hatred towards the regime” in relation to a speech he made inFebruary 2011 during a funeral (the “funeral speech case”). To date, the policeinvestigation is ongoing.

In addition, on April 2, 2015, over twenty police cars surrounded Mr.Rajab’s house and policemen arrested him. Mr. Rajab was then sent to theGeneral Directorate of Anti-Corruption and Economic and Electronic Security tobe interrogated and placed in detention in solitary confinement in Isa TownPolice Station. On April 3, 2015, Mr. Rajab was interrogated by the CIDregarding two new charges brought against him under criminal case No.2015/38288. The first charge was “insulting a statutory body” (Article 216 ofthe Penal Code) referring to the Ministry of Interior in relation to tweets heposted denouncing the torture of detainees at Jaw Prison (the “Jaw torturetweets” case). The second charge was “disseminating false rumours in time ofwar” (Article 133 of the Penal Code) in relation to tweets he published aboutthe Saudi-Arabia led coalition air strikes in Yemen (the “Yemen tweets” case).If sentenced on the second charge, Mr. Rajab could be facing up to 10 years'imprisonment. Mr. Rajab refused to sign the police minutes of theinvestigations. On April 4, 2015, the Public Prosecution ordered seven daysdetention pending investigation. On April 5, 2015, security police confiscatedall electronic devices belonging to Mr. Rajab and members of his family.

On April 11, 2015, the Prosecution ordered an additional fifteen days indetention for Mr. Rajab. On April 26, 2015, the Public Prosecution officiallycharged Mr. Rajab under Articles 133 and 216. The Public Prosecutionsubsequently extended his detention for an additional fifteen days. On May 11,the Bahraini High Court extended Mr. Rajab´s preventive detention for 15 days.

On May 14, 2015, the Bahrain Criminal Court of Appeal upheld thesix-month prison sentence (the “terrorism tweet” case).

On July 13, 2015, the King of Bahrain Hamad Ben Issa Al-Khalifa orderedthrough Royal Pardon the release of Mr. Nabeel Rajab for health reasons. Mr.Rajab had already served three of the six months’ jail sentence. Moreover, onthe same date, the Public Prosecution imposed a travel ban against Mr. Rajab inrelation to criminal case No. 2015/38288 related to the Jaw torture and Yementweets cases.

Mr. Rajab’s lawyers subsequently filed appeals against the travel banwith the investigating prosecutor on September 2, 2015, with the AttorneyGeneral on September 16, and with the Office of the Public Prosecution onOctober 1, 2015. They received no response to such petitions. On December 3,2015, Mr. Rajab's lawyers submitted another petition to the Attorney Generalrequesting the lift of the travel ban imposed on Mr. Nabeel Rajab on July 13,2015. In the written request filed to the Attorney General, Mr. Rajab's lawyersraised the issue of urgency, as Mr. Rajab's wife health is continuouslydeteriorating and needs treatment outside of Bahrain, accompanied by Mr. Rajab.This request was disregarded.

In the morning of June 13, 2016, police forces reportedly led by theCybercrime Unit arrested Mr. Nabeel Rajab, after raiding his house and seizinga number of electronic devices. In the afternoon, Mr. Rajab was able to contacthis wife by phone, and reported being detained at East Riffa Police Station.

On June 14, he was transferred to the Public Prosecution, which remandedhim in custody for seven days, on accusations of “publishing and broadcastingfalse news that undermine the prestige of the State” under Article 134 of thePenal Code[3].

On June 21, 2016, Mr. Nabeel Rajab appeared before the PublicProsecution, which remanded him in custody for eight additional days, in spiteof a request for immediate release made by his legal counsel.

On June 28, 2016, Mr. Nabeel Rajab was transferred from police custodyto the Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) Hospital due to unprecedented heartproblems. On the same day, he was examined by a doctor, and was transferredback to West Riffa police station.

On July 12, during the hearing, the request for release filed by Mr.Rajab's lawyers was dismissed by the judge and the hearing was postponed toAugust 2.

On August 2, 2016, the High Criminal Court, formed of judges Messrs.Abdulla Al Ashraf, Ali Al Dahrani and Sh. Hamad Bin Salman Al Khalifa, decidedto postpone the trial to September 5, without providing any justification.

During the hearing, the lawyers of Mr. Rajab requestedhis provisional release on the basis of his health conditions and the lack ofevidence, but the request was rejected by the Court. Instead, the judge orderedto refer Mr. Rajab to the prison’s clinic.

On September 4, Mr. Rajab was summoned and questioned by CID officials.He was denied access to a lawyer on this occasion.

On September 5, 2016, the Public Prosecution announced that additionalcharges had been brought against Mr. Nabeel Rajab, for deliberatelydisseminating “false news and information and tendentious rumours thatundermine the kingdom’s prestige and stature”, in relation to a letterpublished in the New York Times onSeptember 4, 2016[4],describing his judicial harassment and arbitrary detention. If convicted, thiscould add one year to his final sentence. In total, he now faces up to 16 yearsin prison. Thereforethe court decided to postpone once again the next hearing in his trial toOctober 6, 2016.

Mr. Rajab finds himself in extremely poor detention conditionswhile in solitary confinement at West Riffa police station. The livingconditions in his cell are extremely unsanitary, as the toilet and shower areunclean and unhygienic, with insufficient water. Moreover, cleaning productsand other items, such as a radio, provided by his family were not allowed.According to Mr. Rajab’s family he has lost 7kg since his arrest, hasdeveloped high blood pressure and has irregular heart beats. Besides, his skinhas yellowed in colour. Over the past month, his health has drasticallydeteriorated while in detention.

Actions requested:

The Observatory urges the authorities of Bahrain to:

i. Guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of Mr. NabeelRajab and that of all human rights defenders in Bahrain;

ii. Release Mr. Nabeel Rajab immediately and unconditionally, ashis detention is arbitrary and its conditions amount to ill-treatment and areendangering his life;

iii. Put an end to any act of harassment, including at the judiciallevel, against Mr. Nabeel Rajab and against all human rights defenders inBahrain;

iv. Conform in any circumstances with the provisions of the Declarationon Human Rights Defenders, adopted on December 9, 1998 by the United NationsGeneral Assembly, in particular its Articles 1,Article 6 (c) and 12.2;

v. Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights and fundamentalfreedoms in accordance with international human rights standards andinternational instruments ratified by Bahrain.

Addresses:

• Cheikh Hamad bin Issa AL KHALIFA,King of Bahrain, Fax: +973 176 64 587
• Cheikh Khaled Bin Ahmad AL KHALIFA, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fax: 0097317 21 05 75; Email: ofd@mofa.gov.bh
• Cheikh Khalid bin Ali AL KHALIFA, Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs,Fax: +973 175 31 284
• Lt. Gen. Cheikh Rashed bin Abdulla AL KHALIFA, Minister of Interior, Email: info@interior.gov.bh
• Permanent Mission of Bahrain to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland.Fax: + 41 22 758 96 50. Email: info@bahrain-mission.ch
• H.E. Ahmed Mohammed Yousif Aldoseri, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain tothe Kingdom of Belgium, Fax: 0032 (0) 26472274; E-mail: Brussels.mission@mofa.gov.bh

Please also write to diplomatic representations of Bahrain in yourrespective countries.

***

Paris-Geneva,October 7, 2016.

Kindly inform us of anyaction undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

TheObservatory for theProtection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).Theobjective of this programme is to intervene to prevent or remedy situations ofrepression against human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human RightsDefenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society.

[1] Article 133 of the Penal Codeprovides that “A punishment of imprisonment for a period not exceeding 10 yearsshall be inflicted upon any person who deliberately announces in wartime falseor malicious news, statements or rumors or mounts adverse publicity campaigns,so as to cause damage to military preparations for defending the State ofBahrain or military operations of the Armed Forces, to cause people to panic orto weaken the nation's perseverance”.

Imprisonment shall be the penalty if the offence iscommitted as a consequence of spying for a foreign country.

Life imprisonment shall be the penalty if the offence iscommitted as a consequence of spying for a foreign country”.

[2] Article 216 of the Penal Codeprovides that “A person shall be liable for imprisonment or payment of a fineif he offends, by any method of expression the National Assembly, or otherconstitutional institutions, the army, law courts, authorities or governmentagencies.”

[3] Article 134 of the Penal Codeprovides thats “A punishment of imprisonment for at least 3 months and a fineof at least BD100, or either penalty, shall be inflicted upon every citizen whodeliberately releases abroad false or malicious news, statements or rumorsabout domestic conditions in the State, so as to undermine financial confidencein the State or adversely affect its prestige or position, or exercise in anymanner whatsoever activities that are harmful to the national interests. Thepunishment shall be imprisonment for a period not exceeding 10 years if anoffence is committed in wartime”.

[4] See Letter from a Bahraini jail,September 4, 2016, The New York Times.