Bahrain Crackdown: Activist’s Trial Postponed, Rights Groups Call for His Release

Local Editor

A Bahraini court Thursday postponed until Oct. 31 its verdict in the trial of prominent activist Nabeel Rajab, charged with spreading false information and posting online insults, a judicial source said.

The human rights activist, who had been pardoned for health reasons last year, was re-arrested in June and is on trial on a list of charges, including insulting a state institution and Saudi Arabia in online postings.

He is also accused of "spreading false news and rumors and inciting propaganda during wartime which could undermine the war operations by the Bahraini armed forces and weaken the nation", state news agency BNA reported Thursday.

According to the Bahrain Center for Human Rights [BCHR], Rajab was charged with "insulting a statutory body, insulting a neighboring country and disseminating false rumors in time of war."

The accusations refer to tweets posted on his account in 2015, referring to "allegation of torture" at Bahrain's Jaw prison, and the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen, the BCHR said.

Bahrain is part of a Saudi-led coalition that waged war on Yemen.

The court had repeatedly ordered that Rajab, 51, remain in custody throughout the trial, despite recurring health problems for which he was briefly hospitalized in late June.

His detention has drawn wide condemnation from human rights groups.

Last month, 22 NGOs including Human rights Watch and Amnesty International wrote a letter urging 50 governments to "speak out on Bahrain's continued misuse of the judicial system to harass and silence human rights defenders", and specifically called for Rajab's release.

Amnesty said that if convicted, the activist could face up to 13 years in prison and had slammed what it described as a "farcical trial."

Rajab has been repeatedly detained for organizing protests and publishing tweets deemed insulting to Bahrain's authorities.

He previously served two years in jail on charges of taking part in unauthorized protests in the Shiite-majority kingdom.

Home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, Bahrain had been rocked by unrest since security forces crushed protests in 2011 demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team