Ongoing arbitrary arrests and judicial harassment of human rights defenders

BAHRAIN: Ongoing arbitrary arrests and judicialharassment of human rights defenders

Paris-Geneva, August 9, 2012 – As new cases of arbitrary arrests andongoing judicial harassment have been reported in Bahrain, the Observatoryremains extremely concerned with the very repressive climate faced by humanrights defenders in the country.

OnAugust 2, 2012, Ms. Zainab Al-Khawaja was once again arrested while shewas protesting alone at Al Qadam roundabout against the arbitrary detention ofher father Mr. Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, founder of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), former President ofthe Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), and former MENA Director at FrontLine. While arresting Ms. Al-Khawaja, police officers verballyassaulted her and threatened her with reprisals as she was legitimatelyresisting their orders to give a blood sample. She was finally forcibly led tothe Fort Prison Hospital before being transferred to Isa Town Detention Center,where she was kept handcuffed despite a serious leg injury sustained after security forces shot her with tear gas canisters at close range. On August 4, 2012,the Public Prosecution remanded her into custody for seven days.

TheObservatory further recalls that Mr. Nabeel Rajab, President of the BCHR, Director of the GCHR and FIDHDeputy Secretary General, has faced constant judicialharassment, as four cases have been brought against him since May 2012 in relationwith his human rights activities. Mr.Rajab is still facing three of this cases. In particular, he has been detainedsince July 9, 2012 and sentenced to 3 months' imprisonment for alleged libelafter he tweeted the following on June 2: "Khalifa, leave the residentsof Al Muharraq, its Sheikhs and its elderly. Everyone knows that you are notpopular here, and if it wasn't for the subsidies, they wouldn't have gone outto welcome you. When will you step down?"

Afterhis arrest and sentencing, his lawyers immediately filed two appeals. One ofthem requests the suspension of the sentence on the grounds that theinvestigation did not provide any solid legal basis to convict Mr. Rajab. Afterseveral postponments, this appeal was scheduled to be considered by the HigherAppeal Court on August 5, 2012. However, on that day, the judge decided againto postpone the hearing to August 12, officially in order to call the policeofficer who was in charge of the investigation procedure to the stand.

TheObservatory is deeply concerned about this new postponement, as its only aimseems to be to keep Mr. Nabeel Rajab in detention as long as possible, bydelaying the examination of the request filed by his lawyers against his3-month imprisonment sentence. The Observatory reiterates its call on theBahraini authorities to immediately and unconditionally release him as hisdetention is arbitrary and only aims at sanctioning his human rightsactivities.

TheObservatory firmly denounces these new developments against human rightsactivities in Bahrain, and recalls the authorities’ obligation to comply withthe international human rights instruments ratified by the Kingdom of Bahrain,and with the 1998 Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights.

For more information,please contact:

· FIDH: Arthur Manet: +33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18

· OMCT: + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39