On 1 September, English PEN joined fellow organisations and friends of human rights defender Nabeel Rajab to mark his 52nd birthday with a protest at the Embassy of Bahrain in London. Representatives of Amnesty International, Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, FIDH, Index on Censorship, and Redress were among those in attendance, all jointly calling on the Bahraini government to release Rajab immediately and unconditionally.
Following his most recent arrest in June 2016, Nabeel Rajab is facing up to 15 years in prison, accused of spreading ‘false or malicious news’, ‘offending a foreign country’ and ‘offending a statutory body’ through his condemnation of the conditions in Bahrain’s infamous Jau Prison. His trial hearing is due to take place on 5 September.
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