By Index on Censorship / 2 April, 2015

Index on Censorship condemns the latest arrest and continued harrassment of prominent Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab.

Rajab tweeted on April 2 that his house had been surrounded by special forces and that over 20 police cars were sent to his house for the arrest.

Rajab was handed down a six month suspended sentence pending payment of a fine in January for a tweet that both the ministry of interior and the ministry of defence said “denigrated government institutions”.

The tweet in question stated:

many #Bahrain men who joined #terrorism #ISIS came from security institutions and those institutions were the first ideological incubator

— Nabeel Rajab (@NABEELRAJAB) September 28, 2014

Since then, Rajab’s appeal against the verdict has been postponed repeatedly. The latest court date set for his appeal hearing is April 15.

Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and a member of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East Advisory Board, has continuously been targeted by Bahraini authorities over his human rights campaigning work. He reported on 26 February he had again been summoned by the police.

Rajab, a 2012 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression award winner, was released in May 2014 after spending two years in prison on spurious charges including writing offensive tweets and taking part in illegal protests.

“Bahrain must stop the harrassment of Nabeel Rajab,” Index on Censorship CEO Jodie Ginsberg said. “The country has committed publicly to respecting human rights, but continues to flout its international commitments by denying its citizens the right to peaceful protest, peaceful assembly, and to free expression.”

Earlier this year, Bahrain revoked the citizenship of 72 individuals, including journalists, bloggers, and political and human rights activists, rendering many of them stateless – its latest attempt to crack down on those critical of the government.

Tags: Nabeel Rajab

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