SALAM DHR renews its demand for the release of prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab and all prisoners of conscience in Bahrain

Defense attorney of prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab has appealed to the Bahrain Court of Appeal to consider a moratorium or replace the prison sentence with non-custodial sentence .The Court of Appeal set a deadline on tomorrow Tuesday, September 17, 2019. While SALAM DHR welcomes Law No. (18) of 2017 on non-custodial sentences and alternative measures, we urge the authorities in Manama to abolish convictions against Nabeel Rajab and all prisoners of conscience and human rights activists and drop all charges against them.

Nabeel Rajab faces a five-year prison sentence for tweets he posted on his own twitter account that he said wars brought hatred, destruction and scourge and did not bring peace and stability, criticizing the war in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition, as well as other tweets about watching torture in prison by police. Rajab was subjected to a mock and malicious trial that did not respect judicial objectivity. Bahraini courts used arbitrary laws and legal adaptation contrary to the principles of criminal justice and amounted to criminalizing freedom of opinion and expression.

Human rights defender Nabeel Rajab is punished by the prison administration by placing him in isolation prison. He is prevented from meeting with the rest of the prisoners and detainees even while taking him to place designated for visits.

By setting a date of 17 September 2019 by the Court of Appeal to consider a moratorium, it could be an opportunity to correct the mistake and release Rajab, and to conduct an immediate investigation into his allegations of ill-treatment and bring those responsible for violations to a fair trial.

The reports of all international human rights organizations and international observers for the trial of Nabeel Rajab concluded that he is a prisoner of conscience and his place is not a prison. He was honored in several international forums and was unanimously granted honorary citizenship by the Paris City Council on June 6, 2018. The Mayor of Paris wrote in het account In twitter, “With this gesture, we demand the release of Nabeel Rajab, Paris will always exist to defend freedom of opinion and freedom of the media and support the oppressed in the world.”