For Immediate Release: November 22, 2013

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Human Rights Defenders

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Washington, D.C. – Human Rights First today urges the United States to publicly condemn the unfair trials of Bahrain Human Rights Defenders Mahdi Abu Deeb and Jalila al Salman in advance of their final appeal at the Court of Cassation scheduled for Monday. Abu Deeb, President of the Bahrain Teachers’ Association (BTA), and al Salman, Vice President of the Bahrain Teachers’ Association, were tortured into making false confessions and jailed in 2011 following their participation in peaceful protests.

“The United States sent observers to the trial of Abu Deeb and al Salman, but failed to publicly criticize the unfair process,” said Brian Dooley of Human Rights First. “The appeal on Monday should never have been necessary, as the two human rights defenders should not have been jailed to begin with. It is the responsibility of the United States to support justice and the rule of law in Bahrain by speaking out.”

Abu Deeb, one of Bahrain’s most prominent human rights defenders, was targeted by the Bahraini government’s violent crackdown on dissent following his speaking at political meetings during the February and March 2011 protests for democratic reform.  After seven failed attempts to find and arrest him, Abu Deeb was finally taken into custody on 6 April 2011. Following his arrest he spent 64 days in solitary confinement, was beaten, and electrocuted. He was forced to sign false confessions and tried in a military and then civilian court with the Vice President of the BTA Jalila al Salman, who had also been tortured in custody. Al Salman has served her prison sentence, while Abu Deeb is currently half way through a five-year term.

“Abu Deeb remains one of Bahrain’s most prominent dissidents, whose case has been raised by the European Parliament and the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights,” noted Dooley, “The U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan Mendez, included Abu Deeb’s case in his February 2012 report, noting that in his case the Bahrain government “did not address the allegation of torture or ill-treatment at all”.

Human Rights First calls for the immediate release of the peaceful opposition figures and other political prisoners who have been wrongfully jailed in Bahrain. A new report from Human Rights First titled, “Plan B for Bahrain, What the United States Government Should Do Next,” details the steps the United States should take to support Bahrain’s transition to democracy and the rule of law.

For more information or to speak with Dooley, please contact Mary Elizabeth Margolis at margolisme@humanrightsfirst.org of 212-845-5269.

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