Bahrain Activist Receives Three-Year Sentence for Opposition

By Mark McMurray
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

MANAMA, Bahrain —  On Thursday, a Bahraini opposition activist was given a three-year jail sentence for hs participation in anti-government protests.

Bahraini activist Nabeel Rajab.  (Photo Courtesy of Al Jazeera)

Nabeel Rajab, founder and president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, was found guilty of taking part in “illegal gatherings.”  The human rights activist has led a number of protests against the Al Khalifa family ruling the nation.  Rajab has been influential in organizing the protests occurring in the country which began last February.

This week, the judge ruled in three cases against Rajab.  The cases, all related to participating in protests, carried one-year sentences each.  Human rights campaigners have found the ruling very disturbing.  Activists have called Thursday’s verdict a “dark day for justice” in the country.  Citing the peaceful nature of the protests, Rajab’s lawyer, Mohammed al-Jishi, said the ruling was surprising.

Al-Jishi said in similar cases where others have been found guilty, they have been given six-month sentences and some were even freed on bail.  “It is a very stiff and unexpected ruling, I am surprised.  They are peaceful protests, not violent ones,” al-Jishi added.  He plans to appeal the ruling at a hearing to take place next week.

Following Thursday’s verdict, the U.S. government contacted Bahrain over the ruling.  State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland called for the government to respect the fundamental rights of its citizens.

“We’ve long made clear that it’s critical for all governments, including Bahrain, to respect freedom of expression, freedom of assembly,” Nuland said.  “So we are deeply troubled by the sentencing today.”

At the time of the court’s ruling on the protest charges, Rajab was serving a three-month sentence for criticizing the prime minister online.  In July, prosecutors claim they received complaints from the residents of the town of Muharraq who said Rajab had  “libeled” them on Twitter.  He has more than 155,000 followers on Twitter.  In July, he tweeted that the Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa should not continue in his present position.  Citing the residents of Muharraq in his tweet, Rajab also wrote that they had only welcomed the prime minister to their town because he had offered them government subsidies.

The U.S. government has expressed concern over the treatment of Rajab and other opponents to Al Khalifa’s government.  Bahrain serves as the base of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, and recent turmoil in the country has placed the U.S. in an awkward position between its ally and pro-democracy protesters.  The U.S. has called on the Sunni government to speak with the Shiite-led opposition leading the protests in an attempt to bring peace to the country.

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Bahraini Activist Jailed for Three Years – 16 August 2012

Bahrain News Agency – Nabeel Rajab Verdict Announced, Right to Appeal – 16 August 2012

BBC News – Bahrain Activist Nabeel Rajab Jailed for Three Years – 16 August 2012

Chicago Tribune – Bahrain Jails Activist for Three Years Over Protests – 16 August 2012

 

Author: Impunity Watch Archive