Nabeel Rajab’s Verdict in Appeal of Twitter Case Due Sunday | Human Rights First

4.8.12

Nabeel Rajab’s Verdict in Appeal of Twitter Case Due Sunday | Human Rights First: Washington, DC – On Sunday, Aug. 5, leading Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab, President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), will return to court for the verdict in his appeal of a three-month prison sentence for criticizing the country’s Prime Minister in a tweet. His comments were about Khalifah ibn Sulman al-Khalifah, the uncle of the King of Bahrain and the country’s unelected Prime Minister for nearly 41 years.

On July 9, Rajab was arrested at his home by masked security officers after his June 2 tweet that read, “Khalifa, leave the residents of Al Muharraq, its Sheikhs and its elderly. Everyone knows that you are not popular here, and if it wasn’t for the subsidies, they wouldn’t have gone out to welcome you. When will you step down?”

Human Rights First’s Brian Dooley said, “Despite promise after promise from the Bahrain authorities that people would no longer be prosecuted for peacefully expressing their views, Rajab is in prison for exactly that. The U.S. Government should publicly call on the Bahrain regime to free him immediately and unconditionally and to end the jailing and judicial harassment of human rights defenders.”