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