25 Jan 2018

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP needed to step up their linked to tweets in which he

Bahrain human rights
deteriorate as world looks
away: activists
Human rights in Bahrain have
deteriorated significantly
in the past year because
international pressure on
the Gulf Arab kingdom has
weakened, activists said on
Thursday.
"Bahrain is now clearly sliding
in a new and very dangerous
direction with 37 people
arrested yesterday alone," said
Brian Dooley of U.S.-based
Human Rights First.
"The fairly weak level of
restraint that was there
before has all but gone," he
said, adding that countries
influential in Bahrain such as
the United States and Britain
criticism.
Bahrain, where the Shi'ite
Muslim majority is ruled by
a Sunni Muslim royal family,
has pursued a crackdown
on opposition activists since
quashing 2011 protests
calling for democracy.
Authorities have closed
opposition political
groupings, revoked
dissidents' passports and
arrested suspected militants.
Activists say many arrests
are for political reasons and
breach detainees' human
rights.
Bahrain, where the U.S.
Navy's Fifth Fleet is based,
denies clamping down on
dissent. It says it faces a
militant threat backed by
arch-foe Iran on the opposite
side of the Gulf.
Read more
Rights groups fear for
Bahraini activist Rajab's
health
International rights groups
said Thursday they fear for
the health behind bars of
Bahrain's most high-profile
activist, Nabeel Rajab,
condemning the Gulf state
over its seven-year crackdown
on dissent.
Rajab, a leading figure in
2011 protests that erupted
in Bahrain, was sentenced
to two years in jail last July
for "disseminating rumours
and false information" in
television interviews critical
of the government.
He also faces a potential 15-
year sentence in a second case
criticised Saudi Arabia and its
allies, including Bahrain, over
their military intervention in
the Yemen war.
A statement released by a
regional rights group, the Gulf
Center for Human Rights, the
World Organisation Against
Torture (OMCT) and the
International Federation for
Human Rights (FIDH) said
the Bahraini government
had denied healthcare to
and "detained, imprisoned,
tortured... or forced into
exile" a number of prominent
dissidents.
The organisations said Rajab,
who has been hospitalised
multiple times in recent years,
had been advised not to take
his medication over fears the
government had interfered
with the treatment.
Read more

by rights groups as part

of a yearslong crackdown
on dissent that has seen all
political opposition groups
disbanded and activists jailed
or forced into exile.

Rights group fears for
detained Bahrain activist
An imprisoned activist in
Bahrain has been denied
adequate medical care and is
being held with extremists,
putting his life at risk, a human
rights group said Thursday.
Nabeel Rajab was sentenced
to two years in prison in
July on charges related to
TV interviews in which
prosecutors allege he
disseminated rumors and
false news about the situation
in Bahrain in a way “that
undermines the prestige of the
state.”
His imprisonment was seen
Dimitris Christopoulos,
head of the Paris-based
International Federation for
Human Rights, an umbrella
group, expressed concern
about Rajab’s health and safety.
“We have received alarming
credible reports about the
reliability of the medical care
afforded to Rajab and we
have reasons to believe that
his health conditions are not
treated in a very good way,”
Christopoulos said at a press
conference in Beirut.
“Our sources ... reveal that
Nabeel’s safety is at risk and we
fear for his life,” he added.
Read more