11-12 July 2016

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

Bahrain activist's trial
postponed,
rights
groups call for his
release
The trial in Bahrain of
prominent rights activist
Nabeel Rajab was postponed
until Aug. 2 on Tuesday and
a request for his release
rejected, his lawyer said,
hours after 26 rights groups
jointly called for him to be
freed.
Bahrain has made no public
statements on Rajab's case,
but his lawyer has said
charges against him relate to
anti-government tweets he
allegedly published last year,
including one accusing the
security forces of torturing
detainees.

Rajab was a leading figure

in a 2011 pro-democracy
uprising led by Bahrain's
Shi'ite Muslim majority,
and he has been repeatedly
detained.
His latest arrest comes
during what rights groups
say
is
an
escalating
crackdown on Bahrain's
opposition.
The trial was postponed
until Aug. 2 and a request
for his release by the defence
was turned down, his
lawyer Mohammed al-Jishi
wrote on Twitter without
elaborating.
Shi'ites in Bahrain complain
of discrimination from the
Sunni-led
government,
which denies this.

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Nabeel Rajabs Trial

Adjourned until August
2nd, Judge Rejects
Request to Release Him
A Bahraini court adjourned
the hearing of prominent
human
rights
activist
Nabeel Rajab until August
2, 2016, announced lawyer
Mohammad Al-Jeshi on his
personal Twitter account,
adding that the judge
rejected a request by Rajab's
attorney to release the rights
defender until the date of
the court hearing.

Bahraini
political
activist released from
prison
Bahraini activist Ibrahim
Sharif was freed from
prison on Monday after
serving a yearlong sentence
over comments supporting
political change in the
kingdom, his supporters
and family said.
Sharif is the former
secretary-general of the
secular, leftist National
Democratic Action Society,
which also goes by the
Arabic name Waad. He is
one of several civil society
activists jailed in the tiny

Bahrain's
Sunni-ruled
government crushed the
2011 protests, which were
dominated by the country's
Shiite majority, but lowlevel unrest continues.

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This hearing will come

after around 29 days of
Rajab's
detention.
The
internationally renowned
activist has recently suffered
medical problems during

island kingdom since Arab

Spring-inspired
protests
seeking greater political
rights erupted more than
five years ago.
Sharif was most recently
arrested last July over a
speech supporting the
protest movement, and
was convicted in February
of inciting hatred. He had
been out of prison for less
than a month when he was
detained, having just served
more than four years behind
bars following a conviction
by a military-led tribunal
for his role in the uprising.

his
imprisonment.
He
was rushed to the military
hospital following a drop
in his heart rate, as a
result of his deteriorating
health and psychological
condition after being held
in solitary confinement
at the notorious Al-Riffa
detention center.

Wefaq, which it has called

"alarming".

Verdict on dissolving
Bahrain opposition due
next week
A Bahraini court will hand
down its verdict next week
in the government's bid to
dissolve the main opposition
group Al-Wefaq, accused of
harbouring "terrorism," a
judicial source said Monday.
The date of July 17 was set
as the court convened in
the absence of the defence
team which walked out
last month in protest at
the government's push to
accelerate the process.
The United States has called
on Bahrain to reconsider
the move to dissolve Al-

Al-Wefaq was the largest

bloc in parliament before
its lawmakers resigned in
protest at the crushing of
2011 protests calling for an
elected government in the
Sunni-ruled kingdom.
The justice ministry has
accused the Shiite bloc
of providing a haven for
"terrorism,
radicalisation
and violence" and opening
the way for "foreign
interference"
in
the
kingdom's affairs.
That was an allusion to Iran,
which Bahrain accuses of
fomenting unrest among its
Shiite majority.

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Rights groups demand

release
of
Bahrain
activist as trial opens
Twenty
six
Bahraini
and international rights
groups have called for
the release of prominent
activist Nabeel Rajab, who
faces trial on Tuesday on
charges of sending out antigovernment tweets that
could carry up to 13 years in
prison.
Rajab's case appears to relate
to tweets authorities allege
he sent last year suggesting
security forces had tortured
detainees and accusing the
government of complicity in
killing civilians as part of a
Saudi-led war in Yemen.

He was arrested earlier

last month as part of what
Bahraini rights groups say
is an escalating crackdown
by the Sunni Muslim-led
government on the island's
majority Shi'ites.
Government officials have
not commented publicly on
the case but deny systematic
abuses of human rights and
have accused the opposition
of stirring sectarian hatred
in the kingdom and serving
the interests of their rival,
Shi'ite Iran.
"We remind the Bahraini
government of its obligation
to preserve the right to free
expression," the campaign
groups, including Human
Rights First and Physicians
for Human Rights, said in a
statement.

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of East Eker, south of the

capital Manama, on June 30,
the statement said. Shrapnel
hit the car, killing her and
injuring her three children.

Bahrain makes arrests

over bombing that
killed woman, blames
Iran
Bahrain has arrested two
men suspected of planting a
bomb that killed a Bahraini
woman in late June and of
having received training
and support from Iran,
the interior ministry said
on Tuesday. A ministry
statement identified a third
suspect in the blast but
said he had fled to Iran, the
Middle Easts Shiite Muslim
power across the Gulf
from Sunni Muslim-ruled
Bahrain.
The bomb blast occurred on
a road as the woman passed
in her car in the village

The statement accused

the three men of receiving
training in weapons and
explosives
from
Irans
Revolutionary Guards. One
man travelled to Iran for his
training, it said.
A Bahraini human rights
group challenged the official
version of events, citing
conflicting
narratives.
Opposition activists have
said on social media that
witnesses reported seeing
security forces fire on
the womans car after it
accidentally neared a royal
convoy.

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stressed that the authorities

tampered with judicial dates
and denied Al-Wefaq the
most basic rights of defense.

Wefaq Official: We
Werent
Officially
Informed by Court
About
Al-Wefaq
Suspension,
Its
a
Political Decision
A senior source from AlWefaq National Islamic
Society denied that the
opposition group received
any official notice from
the court, regarding the
Justice Ministry's request to
suspend and dissolve it.
The source further stated
that the decision to suspend
Al-Wefaq is political and
has nothing to do with
any charges, adding that
the authorities have also
failed to cover it up with
judicial procedures. It also

The authorities' aims are very

clear as they want to alter
the political and religious
scene,
which
explains
the government's recent
measures that threaten the
island kingdom's stability,
said the source, adding that
any legal, administrative or
judicial measures will fail to
cover up the government's
unlawful and unjustifiable
actions.

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