Bahrain: MEPs call for the release of Nabeel Rajab

Brussels, 28 October 2014

We, the undersigned Members of the European Parliament, call for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Nabeel Rajab – President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Director of the Gulf Center for Human Rights, Deputy Secretary General of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and member of the Human Rights Watch's Advisory Board.

We believe that his arrest, interrogation and arbitrary detention in relation to an offending tweet are meant as a form of reprisal against Mr. Rajab for his recent advocacy on behalf of human rights in Bahrain. His advocacy recently included speaking before the Human Rights Subcommittee (DROI) of the European Parliament, and participating in the 27th Session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Less than 24 hours after completing his human rights advocacy mission in Europe, the Bahraini government summoned Mr. Rajab to the Central Investigations Directorate's (CID) Cyber Crimes Unit for interrogation, whereupon security forces arrested and interrogated him for a number of hours in relation to a tweet he published while abroad. After 19 days in pre-trial detention, Mr. Rajab's court proceedings began to hear opening arguments on 19 October. The court postponed any decision or sentencing a first time until Wednesday 29 October, then a second time until 2nd November.

On that date, the Court decided to provisionally release Mr. Rajab until the next hearing scheduled on 20 January 2015. However Mr. Rajab has been baned from leaving Bahrain and still faces up to six years prison for "insulting a public institution and the army" via Twitter, pursuant to Article 216 of the Bahraini Penal Code.

Given the Bahrain government's history of targeted reprisals of arbitrary detention and torture against Mr. Rajab, including a two-year arbitrary detention completed in May 2014, we are deeply concerned that Mr. Rajab's renewed arbitrary detention in relation to his free expression is likewise meant as a form of reprisal for his human rights advocacy at EU and UN levels.

In addition to the recent detention of Mr. Rajab, the Bahraini government has also reignited its campaign against the Bahraini-Danish citizens and human rights defenders of the al-Khawaja family. Abdulhadi al-Khawaja continues to serve his arbitrary life sentence in Bahrain after peacefully calling for reforms during the 2011 popular protest movement in the country. His daughter Zainab al-Khawaja – herself a prominent human rights activist who is currently eight months pregnant – now faces fresh charges of insulting the king of Bahrain, a crime that can carry a sentence of seven years imprisonment and a fine up to BD 10,000 (€20,900). Her trial is set to resume on Thursday 20 October.

In February of this year, the European Parliament unanimously passed an Urgency Resolution recognizing that "the Bahraini authorities continue to violate and restrict the rights […] of individuals to peaceful protest, freedom of expression and digital freedom, [and that] human rights activists face ongoing systematic targeting, harassment and detention." The Resolution also called for "the immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience, political activists, journalists, human rights defenders and peaceful protesters, including Nabeel Rajab [...]".

We therefore urge the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Member States to publicly condemn the ongoing violations of the basic human rights of free expression in Bahrain, and call for the release of Mr. Nabeel Rajab and other human rights defenders targeted in Bahrain. We further hope that Member States will continue to call on the Government of Bahrain to ensure that all civil society organizations and human rights defenders in the kingdom are able to conduct their work without fear of retaliation or reprisal. Finally, we again urge the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs to stress the European Parliament's calls for imposing targeted restrictive measures (visa bans and asset freezes) against those individuals responsible for, and involved in, the human rights abuses (as documented by the BICI report or by the Special Procedures of the United Nations).

Yours sincerely,

(See list of signatories)

Ms. Martina Anderson, GUE, Ireland
Mr. Eric Andrieu, S&D, France
Ms. Margrete Auken, Greens, Denmark
Mr. Petras Austrevicius, ALDE, Lithuania
Mr. Brando Benifei, S&D, Italy
Ms. Malin Björk, GUE, Sweden
Ms. Lynn Boylan, GUE, Ireland
Mr. Paul Brannen, S&D, UK
Mr. Klaus Buchner, Greens, Germany
Mr. Nicola Caputo, S&D, Italy
Mr. Matt Carthy, GUE, Ireland
Mr. Fabio Massimo Castaldo, EFD, Italy
Ms. Nessa Childers, S&D, Ireland
Ms. Bodil Ceballos, Greens, Sweden
Mr. Ignazio Corrao, EFD, Italy
Mr. Javier Couso Permuy, GUE, Spain
Mr. Dennis De Jong, GUE, The Netherlands
Ms. Karima Delli, Greens, France
Ms. Anneliese Dodds, S&D, UK
Ms. Jill Evans, Greens, UK
Mr. Juan Fernando López Aguilar, S&D, Spain
Mr. Michael Gahler, EPP, Germany
Ms. Ana Gomes, S&D, Portugal
Mr. Enrique Guerrero, S&D, Spain
Ms Marian Harkin, ALDE, Ireland
Ms. Heidi Hautala, Greens, Finland
Ms. Maria Heubuch, Greens, Germany
Mr. Richard Howitt, S&D, UK
Mr. Yannick Jadot, Greens, France
Ms. Rina Ronja Kari, GUE, Denmark
Ms. Jude Kirton-Darling, S&D, UK
Mr. Jeppe Kofod, S&D, Denmark
Ms. Jean Lambert, Greens, UK
Ms. Barbara Lochbihler, Greens, Germany
Mr. António Marinho e Pinto, ALDE, Portugal
Ms. Linda McAvan, S&D, UK
Mr. Edouard Martin, S&D, France
Ms. Barbara Matera, EPP, Italy
Mr. Emmanuel Maurel, S&D, France
Mr. Claude Moraes, S&D, UK
Ms. Angelika Niebler, EPP, Germany
Ms. Liadh Ní Ríada, GUE, Ireland
Mr. Pier Antonio Panzeri, S&D, Italy
Mr. Vincent Peillon, S&D, France
Ms. Sirpa Pietikäinen, EPP, Finland
Mr. Gianni Pittella, S&D, Italy
Mr. Gutiérrez Prieto, S&D, Spain
Mr. Jens Rohde, ALDE, Denmark
Ms. Sofia Sakorafa, GUE, Greece
Ms. Judith Sargentini, Greens, The Netherlands
Ms. Marietje Schaake, ALDE, The Netherlands
Ms. Christel Schaldemose, S&D, Denmark
Mr. Alyn Smith, Greens, UK
Mr. Bart Staes, Greens, Belgium
Mr. Keith Taylor, Greens, UK
Mr. Ivo Vajgl, ALDE, Slovenia
Ms. Elena Valenciano, S&D, Spain
Mr. Marco Valli, EFD, Italy
Ms. Julie Ward, S&D, UK
Mr. Josef Weidenholzer, S&D, Austria
Mr. Bogdan Wenta, EPP, Poland

Currently, 61 Members of the European Parliament support this call.