Amnesty launches online campaign to demand release of jailed Bahraini activists

Amnesty international has launched an online campaign in solidarity with prominent Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab, who has been behind bars over his criticism of the ruling Ale Khalifah family, urging Manama to “immediately and unconditionally” release him.

Through its online campaign, the London-based non-governmental organization sends an email to Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Ale Khalifah to demand the release of Rajab and put an end to the ongoing crackdown on human rights activists in the tiny Persian Gulf sheikhdom.

“Email the King of Bahrain now, calling on him to free Nabeel - and stop the Bahraini authorities’ crackdown on the brave people who speak out for human rights,” the group urges public.

Amnesty underlined the importance of such online actions, which earlier contributed to the release of Ebtisam al Saegh, another human rights defender in Bahrain.

Stating that Nabeel’s verdict is imminent on February 21, the organization said, “We must mobilize quickly and effectively, before it is too late.”

The group described Rajab as one of the “brave human rights defenders” and a “prisoner of conscience, detained solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression.”

It said Rajab, who has been in detention since 2016, “spent an excruciating nine months in solitary confinement, which amounts to torture and ill-treatment.”

EA