Human rights activists Nabeel Rajab and Zainab Al-Khawaja – Photo EPA

One hundred organisations call to end assault on freedom of speech, and to free all detained human rights defenders and netizens

In Arab Countries by CIHRS

 

Abdulhadi Alkhawaja

We, the undersigned global human rights organisations, call on the King, the Crown Prince and the Prime Minister of Bahrain to immediately release all human rights defenders, Twitter activists and bloggers, detained solely for exercising their right to peaceful free expression, whether online or during demonstrations last year. We further call on the United Nations Human Rights Council, the European Parliament and all concerned governments to exert their influence on the ruling family to stop violating human rights in Bahrain.

We call for the immediate release and medical treatment of prominent human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, founder of both the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) and the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) and former staff of Front Line Defenders. He began a hunger strike on 8 February 2012 in defense of civil and human rights for the people of Bahrain. Al-Khawaja holds dual Bahraini and Danish citizenship, therefore, we call on the authorities in Bahrain to allow him to travel to Denmark to get treatment for injuries he suffered from torture during detention, as well as the damage to his health caused by his lengthy hunger strike.

Al-Khawaja was sentenced to life in prison for his role in leading demonstrations last year along with blogger, opposition leader and human rights defender Abduljalil Al-Singace. Blogger Ali Abdulemam of BahrainOnline was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in jail in the same case. Their case, being tried collectively as part of a group of 21 activists, bloggers and rights defenders, was ordered to be retried. The next hearing is on 22 May, the day after the United Nations carries out the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Bahrain in Geneva.

The undersigned organisations are also extremely concerned following the arrest in Manama on 5 May of leading human rights defenders, Nabeel Rajab, President of BCHR and GCHR, on his arrival from Beirut after conducting a human rights workshop. Rajab’s trial is due to begin on 16 May 2012 on charges of “insulting the statutory bodies” in what could be described as an attack on online freedom or the “Twitter Defamation case,” the first of its kind in Bahrain. Rajab is in court also on 22 May on separate charges of “participating in illegal assembly and calling others to join.” He was denied bail and is being held in pre-trial detention for the second week.

Human rights activists Nabeel Rajab and Zainab Al-Khawaja - Photo EPA

Rajab is a well-known human rights activist working with human rights organisations worldwide. Apart from being President of BCHR, a member of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX), he is also a member of the Advisory Committee of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East Division, Deputy Secretary General for the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Chair of CARAM Asia. We strongly believe that Nabeel Rajab is targeted due to his tireless efforts to highlight extensive human rights violations against the people of Bahrain through the use of Twitter, Facebook, and other social media outlets.

We are also very concerned about the ongoing targeting of human rights defender and Twitter activist, Zainab Al-Khawaja (@angryarabia). Zainab Al-Khawaja was continuously denied her right to visit her father Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja in the prison hospital. Instead, she was arrested repeatedly and has been held in prison since 21 April 2012, on which date, she told her mother, she was “kicked so hard in her legs and pushed towards the wall and almost suffocated by the baton.” She faces the charges of illegal gathering, obstructing traffic, assaulting an officer, and swearing at an officer.

Rather than implementing the recommendations of the November 2011 Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) specifically calling for the release of those detained in violation of their right to free expression, Bahraini authorities continue to violate international standards of human rights. Demonstrators continue to be arrested and killed, and there has been little justice for those who were tortured and died in detention last year, including journalists Zakariya Al Asheri and Karim Fakhrawi. Doctors and medics arrested and tortured last year for speaking out about the violence against protesters still face up to 15 years in prison. Furthermore, authorities continue to use teargas not only against protesters but even targeting homes directly, including that of Nabeel Rajab, in an unprecedented use of teargas.

We are very concerned that the series of attacks against the above-named human rights defenders, Twitter activists and bloggers represents an ongoing trend of targeting free speech and human rights defenders in Bahrain, where the legal system is used as a tool to silence them, particularly by denying bail while civil cases are ongoing.

 

We call on the government of Bahrain to:

  1. Immediately and unconditionally release all detained human rights defenders, bloggers and Twitter activists as we believe that they have been detained solely as a result of their legitimate human rights work and for exercising their right to peaceful free expression.
  2.  Failing release on bail or otherwise, grant human rights defenders immediate and unfettered access to their lawyers and families.
  3. Take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity and security of Abulhadi Al-Khawaja, Abduljalil Al-Singace, Nabeel Rajab, Zainab Al-Khawaja and all other detained human rights defenders.
  4. Hold accountable those responsible for the torture of human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and others detained for their right to peaceful expression, according to the recommendations of the BICI report.
  5. Take steps to prevent further abuses in detention and hold those responsible for the ill-treatment of Zainab Al-Khawaja.
  6. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Bahrain are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free from all attacks on their person or restrictions including judicial harassment.

 

Signed Organizations

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