BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

23rd/ 24th/ 25th/ 26th May 2014

Top Bahrain activist
released from prison
A prominent human rights
activist in Bahrain was
released from prison on
Saturday after spending
nearly two years behind
bars.
Nabeel Rajab, who heads
the Bahrain Center for
Human Rights, was
sentenced to three years in
2012 on charges of
encouraging illegal
gatherings tied to anti-
government protests in the
country. An appeals court
later reduced his term by a
year.
After his release from
prison, Rajab was greeted
by dozens of supporters
and stopped to visit his
mothers grave before
heading home.
The activist is a key icon for
the protest movement
against the Gulf Arab
monarchys Sunni rulers.
Since 2011, the countrys
majority Shiites have been
protesting, demanding
greater rights and political
freedoms.
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Bahrain activist
Nabeel Rajab
released from prison
Prominent Bahraini human
rights activist Nabeel Rajab
has been freed after
serving two years in prison
for his involvement in illegal
protests.
Rajab, who heads the
Bahrain Centre for Human
Rights (BCHR), was
convicted in 2012 of taking
part in illegal gatherings
and disturbing public order.
An appeals court later
reduced his original three-
year term by a year.
He was one of several
leading activists arrested by
the authorities after pro-
democracy protests erupted
in 2011.
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Bahrain frees leading
human rights activist
Bahrain has released one
of the Gulf kingdom's most
prominent human rights
activists after he completed
a two-year jail sentence for
his role in protests calling
for democratic reforms.
Nabeel Rajab, who heads
the Bahrain Centre for
Human Rights (BCHR),
was freed on Saturday after
beingfound guilty in August
2012 of encouraging "illegal
gatherings'' tied to anti-
government protests in the
country. He was initially
sentenced to three years
imprisonment, but an
appeals court later reduced
his term by a year.
"I am happy to be with my
friends and back with the
human rights community
but still saddened that there
are still thousands of others
who are still behind bars or
outside the country," Rajab
told Al Jazeera. "I'm also
disappointed that situation
in Bahrain is much worse
than two years ago when I
rst entered prison," he
said.
Read More
Bahrain releases
leading anti-govt
activist Nabeel Rajab
after two years in jail
Key human rights activist
Nabeel Rajab has been
released in Bahrain, after
spending two years in jail
for taking part in mass
protests that have rocked
the Gulf state since 2011.
After two years in prison, I
see Bahrain's political
environment as more
difcult and still without a
roadmap for real reforms,
Rajab, the chief of the
Bahrain Center for Human
Rights (BCHR), told AP.
49-year-old Rajab was
welcomed by a coterie of
supporters in the capital city
of Manana, and paid a visit
to his mothers grave,
before returning home.
Read More
Bahraini activist calls
for dialogue between
Bahraini government
and opposition
Prominent Bahraini human
rights activist Nabeel Rajab
has called for serious
dialogue between Al Khalifa
regime and opposition
leaders.
The only solution is a
serious dialogue between
the royal family and the
opposition [al-Wefaq
movement], said Rajab,
who heads the Bahrain
Centre for Human Rights.
Rajab who was released on
Saturday after serving a
two-year jail term, said
Bahrains situation today is
worse compared to when
he went to prison because
of an upsurge in violence.
Read More
Rajab urges serious
dialogue in Bahrain
Prominent Bahraini Shiite
activist Nabil Rajab issued
an appeal on Sunday for
serious dialogue in the
country following his
release after serving a two-
year jail term.
Rajab was arrested in 2011
during Shiite-led anti-
government protests and
was jailed for taking part in
unauthorised
demonstrations.
He was freed on Saturday,
and is now calling for a
fresh round of dialogue
between the government
and the opposition.
Unfortunately, the situation
today is worse than when I
went to jail because of an
upsurge in violence, which
we reject, Rajab told AFP
by telephone.
Read More
Activist Nabil Rajab
appeals for serious
dialogue in Bahrain
Prominent Bahraini Shiite
activist Nabil Rajab issued
an appeal on Sunday for
"serious dialogue" in the
Sunni-ruled kingdom
following his release after
serving a two-year jail term.
Rajab was arrested in the
wake of the crackdown on a
month of Shiite-led protests
in 2011 demanding political
reforms, and was jailed for
taking part in
"unauthorised"
demonstrations.
He was freed on Saturday,
and is now calling for a
fresh round of dialogue
between the Sunni Al-
Khalifa dynasty and the
opposition representing the
Gulf archipelago's Shiite
majority.
Read More
Tortured & silenced:
Bahrain activist still
intent on bringing
greater freedoms
One of Bahrains most
prominent human rights
activists has been released
from prison after two years.
Nabeel Rajab spoke
exclusively to RT about his
experiences, saying he was
held in dire conditions and
subjected to abuse.
It has been a long two
years for Nabeel Rajab,
who lived in virtual solitary
connement for most of his
time in prison, for simply
speaking out about the
governments brutal
crackdown on protesters
who were merely wanting to
make their voices heard.
I was kept separate in a
separate building for two
years, just to make sure
that I do not connect with
the other prisoners, Rajab
said, who helped to found
the Bahrain Center for
Human Rights in 2002.
Read More
Bahrain sentences 4
to life in prison for
bomb
A court in the Arab Gulf
country of Bahrain has
sentenced four people to
life in prison and a fth to
10 years imprisonment on
charges related to an
explosion in the capitals
nancial district last year.
The public prosecutors
ofce released a statement
Monday saying the ve
Bahrainis were found guilty
of setting off the explosion
with the intent of terrorizing
people and damaging the
countrys image.
The November 2013
explosion did not kill or
wound anyone.
Bahrain has been roiled by
tensions since 2011, when
the Sunni monarchy moved
to crush a revolt by the tiny
island nations Shiite
majority.
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Bahrain jails for life 4
over 'terrorist act'
A Bahraini court jailed four
people for life on Monday
for blowing up a car in an
attempt to disrupt an F1
Grand Prix race in 2013,
the state news agency said.
The court gave a fth man
10-year prison sentence in
the same trial, the BNA
news agency reported.
All of the men were
accused of blowing up a car
in November 2013 near a
nancial centre in the
capital Manama "to disrupt
a Formula 1 race," the
agency said.
They were also accused of
making and possessing
explosives, detonating
explosives and stealing a
car, all with the aim of
"carrying out a terrorist act,"
the agency added, saying
the men admitted their
responsibility.
Read More
Bahrain in shock
after teenage boy
killed in clashes
The village of Sitra, south of
the Bahraini capital
Manama, has been in
shock following the death of
a teenage boy last
Wednesday during clashes
between Shiite
demonstrators and police.
The boy had been lming
the protests on behalf of
opposition activists.
Mahmoud Mohsen, 14, was
struck in the heart and
chest by buckshot pellets
during clashes with security
forces on May 21. The
unrest broke out after a
funeral procession for a
Shiite activist.
Dozens of activists
protested on Thursday in
Sitra, a majority Shiite town,
to denounce what they call
the murder of the
teenager.
Fearing the protests could
escalate, on Friday
authorities sent in
reinforcements to the town.
Read More
Angry Bahrainis
torch police car after
teen's killing
Angry Bahrainis preparing
to bury a teenager killed in
clashes with police in a
Shia village near the
capital torched a police car,
the interior ministry said on
Saturday.
The ministry said the police
car caught re and burned
on Friday night after being
hit by a Molotov cocktail in
the village of Mikshaa, west
of Manama.
Witnesses said police used
tear gas to disperse people
who had gathered in protest
for a second consecutive
night Friday.
Mahmud Mohsen, 15, died
after being hit by birdshot
on Wednesday, the main
Shia opposition bloc Al-
Wefaq said. His funeral was
to be held on Saturday.
Read More
Torture: A world of
broken promises
Amnesty International's
new Stop Torture campaign
reveals that 27 different
types of torture were
reported during 2013-14, in
at least 79 countries. It also
shows that up to one in
three Britons think torture
can be justied.
VoR's Juliet Spare hosts a
discussion.
Thirty years after the UN
Convention Against Torture
was adopted, more than a
hundred states continue to
torture. So whats
changed?
Joining Juliet were:
Tom Davies, Stop Torture
campaign manager, from
Amnesty International UK
Jawad Fairooz, former
Bahrain MP who was
tortured during the uprising
in Bahrain in 2011 while
being held in May-August
2011, now living in UK,
stateless.
Revd Nicholas Mercer,
assistant curate, who
served as an ofcer in the
Army Legal Service.
Ranking as a lieutenant
colonel, he was the senior
legal ofcer of the British
Forces during the invasion
of Iraq in 2003.
Read More
Bahrain launches the
post-oil boom
With Iraq in chaos, Syria in
a civil war, Lebanon
fragmenting, and Egypt
imploding, Americas
friends worry about stability
in the Middle East and a
perceived American
retrenchment from
international affairs. During
a recent visit to Bahrain this
growing anxiety over a
possible American
geopolitical disengagement
and the reality of Iran lling
this vacuum was palpable.
Nonetheless, this long-time
American ally and its U.S.-
educated monarch remain
loyal to their partnership
with Washington. King
Hamad Al-Khalifa is a keen
observer of geopolitical
trends in the region and
understands the cycles of
American foreign policy that
swing from isolation to
engagement. The King is
aware that while American
presidents come and go,
the central role America
plays and has since
World War II on the global
stage is indisputable.
Read More