Ongoing arbitrary detention and judicial harassment of Nabeel Rajab

New Information

BHR 001 / 0512 / OBS 048.4

Arbitrarydetention / Judicial harassment

Bahrain

August 14, 2012

TheObservatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme ofthe International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World OrganisationAgainst Torture (OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgentintervention in the following situation in Bahrain.

Newinformation:

TheObservatory has been informed by reliable sources about the ongoing judicialharassment of Mr. Nabeel Rajab, President of the Bahrain Centre for HumanRights (BCHR), Director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) and FIDHDeputy Secretary General[1].

Accordingto the information received, on August 12, 2012, the Higher Appeal Court calledto the stand the only police officer responsible for the investigation of thecase related to the 3-month detention sentence issued against Mr. Nabeel Rajabon July 9, 2012 by the 5th Lower Criminal Court for alleged libel through atweet posted on his twitter account on June 2 (see background information).

Atthat hearing, the police officer responsible for the investigation of the casewas questioned by both the prosecution and the defence. The purpose of thehearing was to identify the possible existence of proofs that Mr. Nabeel Rajabwas indeed the author of that tweet.

Duringthe questioning, inconsistencies were noted in the statements of the policeofficer. The latter stated in particular that he was not the technical expertto determine whether Mr. Rajab was the author of the tweet, and that he was notpersonally possessing such proofs.

Thejudge is expected to issue the verdict at the next hearing, scheduled forAugust 16, 2012.

Inaddition, although Mr. Nabeel Rajab was due to appear on September 26, 2012 inrelation with three other cases pending against him (which the Lower Court hadagreed to merge on July 26 - see background information), the hearing relatedto those cases took place on August 5, 2012, and another one on August 12, onthe basis of a request of the Prosecution.

Thedefence team consequently lodged a complaint with the Judicial InspectionDirectory to “declare the presiding judge unfit”, in accordance with Article216 of the Bahraini Code of Criminal Procedure, on the grounds that thepresiding judge had ignored the request submitted by the defence team tomaintain the initial date of the case (i.e. September 26) as no emergency couldbe justified since the defendant was not in custody, and the defence teamneeded time to prepare the memos related to the three joint cases.

Regardingthe case of alleged libel, however, and after the defence team informed thepresiding judge that a complaint had been lodged against him with the JudicialInspection Directory, the latter eventually refused to stand-by, and announcedthat the verdict would also be issued on August 16, 2012 in relation to thethree other cases pending.

TheObservatory denounces the ongoing arbitrary detention and judicial harassmentof Mr. Nabeel Rajab, which seem to merely aim at hindering his human rightsactivities and at stifling his attempts to fight corruption in Bahrain.

The Observatory calls forthe immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Rajab, and is extremely concernedabout the fact that a number of cases have been filed against him since May2012, and that four of them are still pending.

More generally, theObservatory urges the Bahraini authorities to put an end to all acts ofharassment – including at the judicial level – against Mr. Rajab, and to complywith the relevant international norms and standards, in particular the UnitedNations (UN) Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the UN GeneralAssembly on December 9, 1998, and international human rights standards andinternational instruments ratified by Bahrain.

Backgroundinformation:

OnJuly 9, 2012, Mr. Rajab was arrested by masked police officers at his house[2]after he had tweeted the following on June 2: "Khalifa,leave the residents of Al Muharraq, its Sheikhs and its elderly. Everyone knowsthat you are not popular here, and if it wasn't for the subsidies, theywouldn't have gone out to welcome you. When will you step down?".

Inaddition, four other cases were brought against Mr. Rajab over the past months:

-The first of them on charges of “insulting the statutory bodies”, pursuant toArticle 216 of the Penal Code, for which the court issued its final verdict on June 27, 2012 andsentenced him to pay a fine of 300 Bahraini dinars. Mr. Rajab was released onthe same day and the travel ban against him was lifted. Such charges had beenpressed against him in relation to tweets he posted to denounce the lack ofinvestigation, by the Ministry of Interior, into the killings of civilians.

-The second on charges of “participating in an illegal assembly” and “callingothers to join”, in relation to a protest organised on March 31, 2012 in Manamato denounce the detention of the founder of GCHR, former President of theBahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), and former MENA Director at Front Line,Mr. Abdulhadi Al Khawaja.

-The third on charges of “involvement in illegal practices and incitementto gatherings and calling for unauthorised marches through social networkingsites” for a protest in Manama on January 12, 2012.

- The fourth oncharges of “participating in an illegalassembly” in relation to several protests that took place in Manama in February2012.

The lastthree cases were merged on July 26, 2012, and were both initially re-scheduledto September 26. However, the date was changed again to August 5, 2012, and thelatest hearing took place on August 12, 2012.

Actionsrequested:

The Observatory urges the authorities of Bahrain to:

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

ii. Release Mr. Nabeel Rajabimmediately and unconditionally as his detention seems to merely sanction hishuman rights activities and is contrary to national and international law;

iii. Provide Mr. Nabeel Rajab with appropriate medical treatment inappropriate medical facilities;

iv. Put an end to any act of harassment, including at the judicial level,against Mr. Nabeel Rajab and against all human rights defenders in Bahrain;

v. Conformin any circumstances with the provisions of the Declaration on Human RightsDefenders, adopted on December 9, 1998 by the United Nations General Assembly,in particular:

- itsArticle 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually or inassociation with others, topromote the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national andinternational levels” ;

- its Article 6 (c) whichstates that “everyone has the right, individually and in association withothers to study, discuss, form and hold opinions on the observance, both in lawand in practice, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms and, throughthese and other appropriate means, to draw public attention to thosematters” ;

- and its Article 12.2which states that “the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure theprotection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and inassociation with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de factoor de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as aconsequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in thepresent Declaration”.

vi. Ensure in all circumstances respect for humanrights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rightsstandards and international instruments ratified by Bahrain.

Addresses:

· Cheikh Hamad bin Issa AL KHALIFA, King ofBahrain, Fax: +973 176 64 587

· Cheikh Khaled Bin Ahmad AL KHALIFA,Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tel: +973 172 27 555; Fax : +973 172 12 6032

· Cheikh Khalid bin Ali AL KHALIFA, Ministerof Justice and Islamic Affairs, Tel: +973 175 31 333; Fax: +973 175 31 284

· Lt. Gen. Cheikh Rashed bin Abdulla AL KHALIFA,Minister of Interior, Tel: +973 17572222 and +973 17390000. Email: info@interior.gov.bh

· Permanent Mission of Bahrain to the UnitedNations in Geneva, 1 chemin Jacques-Attenville, 1218 Grand-Saconnex, CP 39,1292 Chambésy, Switzerland. Fax:+ 41 22 758 96 50. Email: info@bahrain-mission.ch

Please also write to diplomatic representations ofBahrain in your respective countries.

***

Paris-Geneva,August 14, 2012

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

The Observatory, a FIDH andOMCT venture, is dedicated to the protection of Human Rights Defenders and aimsto offer them concrete support in their time of need.

To contact the Observatory,call the emergency line:

· E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org

· Tel and fax FIDH + 33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 143 55 18 80

· Tel and fax OMCT + 41 (0) 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22809 49 29

[1] Mr. Rajab is also a member of the Advisory Committee of Human Rights Watch'sMiddle East Division and Chair of CARAMAsia.

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nENlacyy3Sw&feature=youtu.be