BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

3rd/4th/5th September 2014

Bahrain: UN rights
office deplores
activist's arrest
The United Nations Human
Rights Ofce voiced alarm
yesterday at the detention
of a prominent human rights
defender by Bahraini
authorities in the Gulf
countrys second such
incident in less than a
month, and urged the
Government of Bahrain to
ensure the protection of all
human rights activists within
its borders. Nabeel Rajab
was arrested on
Wednesday as he returned
to Bahrain following a trip
overseas where he
discussed the human rights
situation in his country with
a number of interlocutors,
including the UN, according
to the Ofce of the UN High
Commissioner for Human
Rights (OHCHR). Initially
charged with publicly
insulting a Government
institution on social media,
Mr. Rajab has been
detained for a week
pending investigation.
Read More
UN Rights office calls
for release of Bahrain
activist detained over
tweet
The United Nations has
called on Bahrain to release
a human rights activist
detained for sending a
tweet that offended the
country's Interior Ministry.
A spokesman for the
Geneva-based U.N. human
rights ofce says the
detention of Nabeel Rajab
sends a "chilling message"
to others in the Persian Gulf
nation that they too could
face reprisals if they speak
out.
Rupert Colville said Friday
that Rajab was detained
Wednesday upon his return
from an overseas trip that
included a meeting with
U.N. human rights ofcials
in Geneva to discuss the
situation in Bahrain.
Read More
UN Condemn Arrest
Of Bahrain Human
Rights Activist
The UN human rights ofce
on Friday condemned the
arrest of prominent Bahraini
human rights defender
Nabeel Rajab and urged
authorities in his country to
immediately release him
and other detained activists.
Rajab was arrested
Wednesday after he
tweeted about members of
Bahraini security forces
allegedly ghting alongside
Islamic State militants in
Iraq and Syria.
This is a very disturbing
development, UN Human
Rights Ofce spokesman
Rupert Colville said in
Geneva, pointing out that
Rajab had just returned
home from a trip to Europe
that included discussions
with the UN rights institution
in Switzerland.
Read More
Detention of activists
in Bahrain sends
"chilling message"
The detention of human
rights campaigners in
Bahrain sends a "chilling
message" to other activists,
according to the United
Nations.
Nabeel Rajab was arrested
on Wednesday on his return
to Bahrain following a trip
overseas where he
discussed the human rights
situation in his country with
a number of organizations,
including the UN.
It's the second such
incident in less than a
month in the Gulf country.
Mr Rajab was initially
charged with publicly
insulting a government
institution on social media
and has been detained for a
week pending investigation.
Read More
Bahrain detains,
questions human
rights activist Nabeel
Rajab
Bahrain has ordered
prominent human rights
activist Nabeel Rajab to be
detained and questioned for
a week over his Twitter
remarks criticizing
government institutions,
one of his associates said.
Manamas Public
Prosecution conrmed the
detention and questioning
of a person who publicly
insulted state institutions
online and confessed to the
actions, but didnt give the
exact name of the person.
On Thursday, an associate
who runs Nabeel Rajabs
Twitter account wrote that
the Public Prosecution has
ordered the detention of
Nabeel for 7 days on
pending investigation.
Read More
Human Rights
Activist Imprisoned
for Allegedly
Insulting Bahrain
Government on
Twitter
A
prominent Bahraini human
rights activist was taken into
custody this week over a
tweet that was allegedly
"insulting" to the country's
Ministry of Interior. Rights
advocates say the
detention is unlawful and an
example of the ongoing
suppression of freedom of
expression and dissent in
the Persian Gulf country.
The Observatory for the
Protection of Human Rights
Defenders (OPHRD) has
called for the immediate
release of Nabeel Rajab,
President of the Bahrain
Centre for Human Rights
(BCHR), who was detained
Wednesday for comments
he posted to the social
media site last month.
Read More
Leading Bahraini
human rights
defender re-arrested
Leading Bahraini activist
Nabeel Rajab had barely
arrived home after a two-
month human rights
advocacy tour in Europe,
when he received a call
instructing him to
immediately appear before
the Criminal Investigation
Directorate (CID) in
Manama.
Replying that he would not
go unless summoned in
writing, he bought himself
nothing more than a tiny
window of time. Within
hours, three police chiefs
and civilian ofcers were at
his home, serving the
ofcial documents that led
him to the CID building
infamous for the
interrogations conducted
within its walls.
That was Wednesday
afternoon, and although he
has since been moved, he
is set to be detained for
seven days. For now.
Read More
The UK Has Picked
the Wrong Friends in
Bahrain
A month ago I wrote on
these pages that the British
had detained my friend and
human rights colleague
Nabeel Rajab, his wife, his
16-year-old son, and his 12-
year-old daughter for ve
hours at Heathrow. It was
clear that the British
authorities were snuggling
up in bed with the Bahrain
regime, and I predicted that
the British actions would
embolden their authoritarian
chums in the Gulf, and
perhaps even lead to
Nabeel's arrest on his
return home.
I would have been happy to
be proven wrong.
Unfortunately, my worst
fears have come to pass.
When he arrived at the
airport in Manama, he was
duly detained by the
Orwellian "Bahrain Cyber
Crimes Department" -
apparently on the heinous
charge of sending
messages to his 240,000
Twitter followers that were
unattering to the powers
that be.
Read More
Bahraini activist
detained for
'insulting' tweets
The Bahraini authorities
must immediately release a
prominent human rights
activist who has been
detained for posting tweets
deemed insulting to the
countrys Ministry of Interior,
Amnesty International says.
Nabeel Rajab, the
President of the Bahrain
Centre for Human Rights,
could face up to three years
in prison for comments he
posted online about reports
that members of Bahrains
security forces had joined
the Islamic State armed
group in Iraq.
Rajab, who is also the
Director of the Gulf Centre
for Human Rights, was
summoned for questioning
by Bahrains Criminal
Investigations Directorate
yesterday afternoon and
remanded in custody
overnight. Bahrains Public
Prosecution today ordered
his detention for seven
days, pending investigation
under an article of the
countrys Penal Code that
criminalises offending
government authorities,
institutions and agencies.
Read More
Bahrain: Jail for
Insulting the Ministry
of Interior
A number of states still
imprison people for
offending the head of state.
When Mohammed Morsi of
the Muslim Brotherhood
was president of Egypt, he
did it all the time. As Ive
writtenhere before, Bahrain
still jails people for insulting
the king.
Such laws have an ancient
provenance: many
countries jailed people for
insulting the monarchat
least until the twentieth
century. The laws remain on
the books in several
monarchies and there was
a prosecution inSpain as
recently as 2007. (The
crime was a cartoon on a
magazine cover portraying
the Crown Princenow
KingFelipe and his wife
having sexual intercourse,
and the punishment for
each of the two cartoonists
was a ne of three
thousand Euros.)
Read More