Over 10% of the European Parliament call for charges to be dropped against Nabeel Rajab

Addendum January 2015: Since this letter was first published, the situation has continued to deteriorate in Bahrain. Sheikh Ali Salman, General Secretary of the Al-Wefaq, the last opposition political party, was detained on 28 December and is charged with inciting hatred against the government. Zainab Al-Khawaja was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months for insulting the King, though she remains on bail currently. As Nabeel Rajab’s 20 January trial approaches, the Bahraini government appears to be silencing all its major critics.

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)

  1. Ms. Marina Albiol Guzmán, GUE, Spain
  2. Ms. Martina Anderson, GUE, Ireland
  3. Mr. Eric Andrieu, S&D, France
  4. Ms. Margrete Auken, Greens, Denmark
  5. Mr. Petras Austrevicius, ALDE, Lithuania
  6. Mr. Brando Benifei, S&D, Italy
  7. Ms. Malin Björk, GUE, Sweden
  8. Mr. José Bové, Greens, France
  9. Ms. Lynn Boylan, GUE, Ireland
  10. Mr. Paul Brannen, S&D, UK
  11. Mr. Klaus Buchner, Greens, Germany
  12. Mr. Nicola Caputo, S&D, Italy
  13. Mr. Matt Carthy, GUE, Ireland
  14. Mr. Fabio Massimo Castaldo, EFD, Italy
  15. Ms. Nessa Childers, S&D, Ireland
  16. Ms. Bodil Ceballos, Greens, Sweden
  17. Mr. Ignazio Corrao, EFD, Italy
  18. Mr. Javier Couso Permuy, GUE, Spain
  19. Mr. Dennis De Jong, GUE, The Netherlands
  20. Ms. Karima Delli, Greens, France
  21. Ms. Anneliese Dodds, S&D, UK
  22. Mr. Pascal Durand, Greens, France
  23. Ms. Jill Evans, Greens, UK
  24. Mr. Jose Inacio Faria, ALDE, Portugal
  25. Mr. Michael Gahler, EPP, Germany
  26. Ms. Ana Gomes, S&D, Portugal
  27. Mr. Enrique Guerrero, S&D, Spain
  28. Ms Marian Harkin, ALDE, Ireland
  29. Ms. Heidi Hautala, Greens, Finland
  30. Ms. Maria Heubuch, Greens, Germany
  31. Mr. Richard Howitt, S&D, UK
  32. Mr. Yannick Jadot, Greens, France
  33. Ms. Rina Ronja Kari, GUE, Denmark
  34. Ms. Jude Kirton-Darling, S&D, UK
  35. Mr. Jeppe Kofod, S&D, Denmark
  36. Ms. Jean Lambert, Greens, UK
  37. Mr. Philippe Lamberts, Greens, Germany
  38. Ms. Barbara Lochbihler, Greens, Germany
  39. Mr. Juan Fernando López Aguilar, S&D, Spain
  40. Ms. Ulrike Lunacek, Greens, Austria
  41. Mr. António Marinho e Pinto, ALDE, Portugal
  42. Ms. Linda McAvan, S&D, UK
  43. Mr. Edouard Martin, S&D, France
  44. Ms. Barbara Matera, EPP, Italy
  45. Mr. Emmanuel Maurel, S&D, France
  46. Mr. Fernando Maura Barandiaran, ALDE, Spain
  47. Ms. Anne-Marie Mineur, GUE, Netherlands
  48. Mr. Claude Moraes, S&D, UK
  49. Ms. Angelika Niebler, EPP, Germany
  50. Ms. Liadh Ní Ríada, GUE, Ireland
  51. Mr. Pier Antonio Panzeri, S&D, Italy
  52. Mr. Vincent Peillon, S&D, France
  53. Ms. Sirpa Pietikäinen, EPP, Finland
  54. Mr. Gianni Pittella, S&D, Italy
  55. Ms. Soraya Post, S&D, Sweden
  56. Mr. Gutiérrez Prieto, S&D, Spain
  57. Mr. Ricardo Serrão Santos, S&D, Portugal
  58. Mr. Michel Reimon, Greens, Austria
  59. Ms. Christine Revault d’Allonnes-Bonnefoy, S&D, France
  60. Ms. Michèle Rivasi, Greens, France
  61. Mr. Jens Rohde, ALDE, Denmark
  62. Ms. Viriginie Rozière, S&D, France
  63. Ms. Sofia Sakorafa, GUE, Greece
  64. Ms. Judith Sargentini, Greens, The Netherlands
  65. Ms. Marietje Schaake, ALDE, The Netherlands
  66. Ms. Christel Schaldemose, S&D, Denmark
  67. Mr. Helmut Scholz, GUE, Germany
  68. Ms. Molly Scott Cato, Greens, UK
  69. Mr. Jordi Sebastià, Greens, Spain
  70. Mr. Alyn Smith, Greens, UK
  71. Mr. Bart Staes, Greens, Belgium
  72. Mr. Keith Taylor, Greens, UK
  73. Ms. Ruža Tomašić, ECR, Croatia
  74. Ms. Helga Truepel, Greens, Germany
  75. Mr. Claude Turmes, Greens, Luxembourg
  76. Mr. Ivo Vajgl, ALDE, Slovenia
  77. Ms. Elena Valenciano, S&D, Spain
  78. Mr. Marco Valli, EFD, Italy
  79. Ms. Monika Vana, Greens, Austria
  80. Ms. Julie Ward, S&D, UK
  81. Ms. Renate Weber, ALDE, Romania
  82. Mr. Josef Weidenholzer, S&D, Austria
  83. Mr. Bogdan Wenta, EPP, Poland
Take Action & Email Your MP to ask that they support the case of Dr Abduljalil AlSingace by signing EDM 107

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