We are seriously concerned about the ongoing prosecution of Nabeel Rajab, said Liz Throssell, thespokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday, adding that criticizing the government should not be the grounds for detention or prosecution.
The 52-year-old activist, who chairs the Bahrain Center for Human Rights,was accused by Bahraini officials on Thursdayof making comments that harm the interests of the Manama regime and other Persian Gulf kingdoms through an article attributed to him and published by Le Monde on Tuesday.
The article slammed the Daesh Takfiri terrorist groupfor their crimes against humanity and Persian Gulf Arab countriesfor their failure to stop the spread of the violent Wahhabiideology.
Wahhabism, the radical ideology dominating Saudi Arabia andfreely preached by its clerics, fuels the ideological engine of such terror organizations as Daesh and Fateh al-Sham, al-Qaeda's Syrian branch formerly known as al-Nusra Front. Takfiri terrorists use the ideology to declare people of other faiths infidels, justifying the killing of their victims.
Rajab, whowas detained on June 13 for tweets that criticized Manamas role in the deadly Saudi-led military campaign against Yemen, could faceup to 15 years in jail. Throssell said in her statement that Rajab was arrested for exercising his right to freedom of expression.
On September 5, he was further charged with spreading false information aimed at impairing the prestige" of the Manama government.The charges were brought by Bahrains prosecutor general a day after the New York Times published a scathing article by Rajab.
On November 24, the rights campaigner was taken to hospital from prison due to heart problems after being held in solitary confinement for three months.
On December 15, a Bahraini court postponed Rajabs trial for the fifth time, announcing that his next hearing would be held on December 28.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="555"]
In this file photo, Bahraini protesters wave national flags as they participate in an anti-regime protest in the village of Shakhoura. (Photo by AFP)[/caption]Rajab has been repeatedly detained for organizing pro-democracy demonstrations and publishing Twitter posts deemed insulting to the Bahraini authorities.
We also urge the government of Bahrain to take all necessary steps to secure the right to freedom of opinion and expression in accordance with fundamental principles set out in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Bahrain ratified in 2006, Throssell further said.
Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the kingdom on February 14, 2011.
Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or got arrested as a result of the Manama regimes crackdown on anti-regime activists.
