Bahraini human rights activist sentenced to 6 months over tweets

Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab was sentenced to six months in prison on Tuesday after a Bahraini court found him guilty of insulting public institutions in his tweets, a judicial source said.

But Rajab, who was released from custody one month after his arrest in 1 October, could stay out of prison on bail if he pays 200 dinars ($530), the source told AFP, citing the court ruling.

The prosecution, in a statement, said the ruling is subject to appeal.

Rajab, a member of Bahrain's Shiite majority which has held protests against the kingdom's Sunni rulers since 2011, was arrested after posting Twitter comments about the interior and defence ministries last year.

In one of the tweets deemed offensive, Rajab charged that many Bahrainis fighting with militants in Syria were former Bahraini security forces personnel who had developed extreme views while in service.

Rajab could have faced six years in prison. Ahead of the verdict, he told Middle East Eye that he noted, with a certain irony, the amount of coverage his arrest for this charge had generated internationally.

“Every time they supress me and put me in jail, at the same time they make me more popular,” he told MEE via Skype. “That’s the reality they are facing now!”

Rajab, who has led anti-government marches and co-founded the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, was freed last May after serving two years in jail for taking part in unauthorised protests.

His new conviction came one day after prosecutors charged Bahrain's Shiite opposition chief Sheikh Ali Salman with attempting to overthrow the government and set a 28 January trial date.

International rights groups have condemned the trials against opponents of the Sunni government ruling the Gulf state.

Human Rights Watch and the Gulf Centre for Human Rights on Friday urged Bahrain's Western allies to pressure the kingdom to drop charges against Rajab, saying he should have never been charged.

Sixteen NGOS, including Index on Censorship, Amnesty International, Freedom House and Human Rights Watch, signed a letter on Friday addressed to 47 states in the international community calling for pressure to be applied to drop the charges against Rajab.

“The charges levelled against Rajab are illegal under Bahrain’s commitments to the international community and international human rights law,” read the statement.

“Bahrain is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), having acceded to the covenant in 2006. Article 19 of the ICCPR provides everyone with the fundamental rights to opinion and expression…by prosecuting Rajab for statements that he made over Twitter, the Bahraini government violates its own commitments to the international community.”

Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) Executive Director Husain Abdulla added: 

“While the international community has been outspoken in condemning the charges leveled against Rajab, today’s sentence is a clear sign that words will not stop the Bahraini government from harassing human rights defenders and targeting dissent. Bahrain’s allies must go beyond words if they are to stop government policies that run the risk of pushing the country’s disenfranchised population towards extremism.”