10-11 July 2017
BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP
Bahraini rights activist
Nabeel Rajab sentenced
to two years in jail
A Bahrain court sentenced
rights campaigner Nabeel
Rajab to two years in jail on
Monday, supporters said,
for allegedly making false
or malicious statements
about Bahraini authorities.
Authorities at Bahrain's
information affairs office
could not immediately
be reached for comment.
Bahrain has repeatedly
denied systematic rights
abuses.
The Bahrain Institute for
Rights and Democracy
(BIRD) said Rajab had been
Prominent Bahraini
activist sentenced to 2
years prison
One of Bahrains most
prominent activists was
sentenced Monday to
two years in prison in a
verdict that rights groups
say is the latest in a years-
long crackdown on
dissent that has seen all
political opposition groups
disbanded and activists
jailed or forced into exile.
Nabeel Rajab was sentenced
on charges related to TV
interviews he gave in
which prosecutors allege he
disseminated rumors and
false news relating to the
unable to attend the trial,
having been at an interior
ministry hospital since his
health deteriorated in April.
He was detained a year ago.
"This outrageous sentence
against someone speaking
the truth exhibits the
brutality of the Bahraini
government and its heinous
crimes and that of its
kangaroo court," said Sayed
Al-Wadaei, director of
advocacy at BIRD.
In a January 2015 media
interview cited by the
prosecution, according
to al-Wadaei, Rajab had
said Bahrain's jails housed
political prisoners who were
subject to torture.
Rajab was a leading figure
in a 2011 pro-democracy
uprising which Bahrain
crushed with
Read more
situation inside Bahrain
in a way that undermines
the prestige of the state,
according to several human
rights groups closely
monitoring the case.
Rajabs case drew particular
attention because he was
a leading figure in the tiny
island-nations 2011 Arab
Spring protests, when tens
of thousands of Bahrainis,
who are majority Shiite, took
to the streets to demand a
greater say in government
from the Sunni monarchy.
Amnesty International said
Rajabs verdict is the latest
shocking display of zero
tolerance for freedom of
expression by the Bahraini
authorities.
Read more
the source said can be
appealed, was immediately
condemned by Bahraini and
international human rights
watchdogs.
Rajab, 52, was sentenced
Top Bahrain activist
in absentia as he has been
sentenced to 2 years in
hospitalised since April,
jail
said the Bahrain Institute
A Bahraini court on Monday for Rights and Democracy.
sentenced prominent
It denounced the verdict,
human rights activist
saying Rajab had been
Nabeel Rajab to two years in
sentenced "for speaking to
jail after finding him guilty
journalists" and that he had
of spreading "fake news", a
"spent over a year in pre-
judicial source said.
trial detention, largely in
The source, quoted by the solitary confinement".
official BNA news agency,
"His lawyers state he was
said Rajab was convicted "of
denied basic fair trial
disseminating false news,
guarantees," the group said
statements and rumours
in a statement.
about the internal situation
of the kingdom that would Read more
undermine its prestige and
status".
The verdict, which
The Shia opposition
activist was convicted of
"disseminating false news,
statements and rumors
about the internal situation
Bahraini activist Nabeel of the kingdom that would
Rajab sentenced to 2yrs undermine its prestige and
in jail for spreading status," a judicial source
'false news' told the official BNA news
agency, as cited by AFP.
A prominent human rights
activist has been sentenced The 52-year-old was
sentenced in absentia, as
to two years in jail after a
he has been hospitalized
Bahraini court found him
since April, according to the
guilty of spreading "false
Bahrain Institute for Rights
news" about the situation
and Democracy.
inside the country. Amnesty
International has called it a
The institute has denounced
flagrant violation of human
the verdict, saying Rajab
rights.
had been sentenced "for
Nabeel Rajab was sentenced speaking to journalists"
earlier Monday over and that he had "spent
television interviews in over a year in pre-trial
detention, largely in solitary
which prosecutors claim he
confinement."
disseminated rumors and
false information regarding
Read more
Bahrain, AP reported.

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP
Bahrain: Activist
Nabeel Rajab jailed for
'fake news'
Human rights defender
Nabeel Rajab has been
sentenced to two years
in prison in Bahrain for
"broadcasting fake news".
A court ruled that he had
undermined the "prestige"
of the kingdom, the state
news agency reports.
Rights groups have
condemned the decision as
an assault on free speech.
Nabeel Rajab, who is
president of the Bahrain
Center for Human Rights,
also risks further jail time
for political tweets.
US Condemns Bahrain
Court Decision to Jail
Rights Activist for Two
Years
The United States is
disappointed that a court in
Bahrain sentenced human
rights activist Nabeel Rajab
to two years in prison, the
State Department said in a
press release.
The release explained that
no individual should be
prosecuted or imprisoned
for exercising their human
rights or fundamental
freedoms.
"We are disappointed by
the verdict sentencing
10-11 July 2017
The sentence is related and 2016.
to interviews he did with
television journalists in Mr Rajab has been in
2015. and out of prison since
2012 on charges related
"Imprisoning Nabeel to his peaceful human
Rajab simply for sharing Bahrain: two-year prison rights activism, and hes
his opinion is a flagrant sentence for human been banned from leaving
violation of human rights, rights activist Nabeel Bahrain since November
and an alarming sign that Rajab condemned 2014. Most recently he was
the Bahraini authorities will jailed in June 2016 over
go to any length to silence The sentencing of the tweets he made that alleged
criticism," said Salil Shetty, Bahraini human rights torture in a Bahraini prison,
Amnesty International's activist Nabeel Rajab to as well as voicing criticism
secretary general. two years in prison for of the killing of civilians in
criticising Bahrain in several the Yemen conflict by the
According to the Bahrain TV interviews is the latest Saudi Arabia-led military
News Agency, the head of shocking display of zero coalition. On 28 December,
the prosecution said the tolerance for freedom of a Bahraini court ordered
charges were "not related to expression by the Bahraini Rajabs release, but the
human rights activities and authorities, Amnesty
authorities refused to carry
did not affect the right to free International said today. this out - instead he was
opinion and expression".
Earlier today the High immediately re-arrested
Criminal Court in and taken into custody
Manama found Rajab in relation to his TV
Read more guilty of publishing and interviews. His trial began
disseminating rumours and on 23 January.
false news in relation to TV
Read more
interviews he gave in 2015
prominent human rights
activist Nabeel Rajab to
two years in prison today in
Bahrain," the release stated
on Monday. "We reaffirm
our previous calls for his
release."
Bahrains security forces
arrested Rajab on June 12.
The incident took place on
the first day of the United
Nations Human Rights
Council's 32nd Session.
Rajab was repeatedly
sentenced to prison terms
in Bahrain for charges
related to anti-government
criticism and organization
of public manifestations. He
was released from jail in July
2015 after being pardoned
by the king of the country
due to his poor health.
Read more