Bahrain urged to grant human rights activist access to family, lawyers

A Bahraini rights group has expressed deep concern over the health condition of the country’s prominent human rights activist Nabeel Rajab, calling on the ruling Ale Khalifah dynasty to grant him access to his family and lawyers.

According to Press TV, the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) said its 52-year-old chairman has been unable to communicate with family members since last week, noting that the activist is currently being held in a military hospital after authorities failed to provide him with proper medical care following a long delayed surgery in April.

The BCHR highlighted that Rajab is unfit to be discharged from hospital, and his health condition will further deteriorate if he is sent back to prison.

On December 22, 2016, Bahraini authorities accused the pro-democracy campaigner of making comments that “harm the interests” of the Manama regime and other Persian Gulf kingdoms through an article attributed to him and published by French daily Le Monde.

The article slammed the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group for their crimes against humanity and Persian Gulf Arab countries for their failure to stop the spread of the violent Wahhabi ideology.

Rajab, who was detained on June 13 last year for tweets that criticized Manama’s role in the deadly Saudi-led military campaign against Yemen, could face up to 15 years in jail. Liz Throssell, the Spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement that Rajab was arrested for “exercising his right to freedom of expression."

The United Nations Committee against Torture called on the Bahraini regime on May 12 to release Rajab and open an investigation into widespread reports of ill-treatment and torture of detainees.

ME