Bah rain: Persistent Targeting of Activists, Nabil Rajab Summoned by State Security body
Human rights defender Nabeel Rajab-Deputy Bahrain Center for Human Rights-recently received a letter from the Bahraini Public Prosecutor asking him to appear for investigation next Wednesday March 14, 2007 in the Criminal Investigation Directorate- CID (Mokhabarat-Intelligence) located in Adliyah south of the capital Manama. Summoning of Rajab, apparently came in the background of the intense international activities in the United States and Europe on what locally dubbed as “Albandargate”. These were attended by Rajab as well as other personalities and institutions, known locally and internationally, including Dr. Salah Albandar-secretary general of the Gulf Center for the Development of Democracy-the source of the said reports.
Bah rain: Persistent Targeting of Activists, Nabil Rajab Summoned by State Security body
Human rights defender Nabeel Rajab-Deputy Bahrain Center for Human Rights-recently received a letter from the Bahraini Public Prosecutor asking him to appear for investigation next Wednesday March 14, 2007 in the Criminal Investigation Directorate- CID (Mokhabarat-Intelligence) located in Adliyah south of the capital Manama. Summoning of Rajab, apparently came in the background of the intense international activities in the United States and Europe on what locally dubbed as “Albandargate”. These were attended by Rajab as well as other personalities and institutions, known locally and internationally, including Dr. Salah Albandar-secretary general of the Gulf Center for the Development of Democracy-the source of the said reports.
Nabeel Rajab (43 years) played a pivotal role in the activities of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), which was dissolved by the Bahraini authorities in September 2004, via administrative decision supported later through the Court of Appeal, after addressing human rights, considered sensitive by the Bahraini Authorities. Among these issues are the sectarian discrimination and favoursim, poverty and economic rights, corruption and misappropriation of public lands, torture and prosecution of those accused of murder and torture in Bahraini jails and prisons, human trafficing, women’s rights and migrant labours, freedom of expression and laws violating basic rights, activists, detainees of conscience and human rights defenders. BCHR directly participated and supported activities of the detainees of expression and various popular committees, which resulted in the exposure of Nabil and his colleagues to repeated severe attacked and brutal beating in several occasions, which were treated in hospital, more than once.
The BCHR participated in many regional and international workshops and conferences, contributed and support in producing several indictments petitions- personal and institutional-addressed to the Bahraini Authorities or appealing for international intervention to protect activists and detainees as well as flagrant and systematic violations of rights. Nabil Rajab participated, representing BCHR, in many of these petitions, on personal and institutional capacity. One of the recent petition was the ” 100″ prominent Bahrainis addressed to the Bahraini Authorities on Albandar first report, as well as he (Rajab) was one of the 22 prominent nationals called and participated in a popular sit-in and a demonstration on 17 and 24 of last November, protesting against what came in the Albander scandal, demanding impartial inquiry commission and prosecution of those involved in the scandal.
The BCHR played an active role in enrich local and international interaction with the issues brought up by Albandar reports which included inciting sectarianism and sedition directed among the people of Bahrain, importing tens of thousands of “Sunnis” from the Arab and neighbouring countries, in order to manipulate the Bahrain population demography on sectarian basis to achieve political goals, containment of civic societies and institutions, planning for the orientation of Bahraini youth in order to affect persuasions and political orientations.
One of the recent activities- in which Rajab played a leading role- is an intensive program for a week containing meetings with some members of US Congress and Senate, and representatives of research institutes and prestigious human rights organizations in New York and Washington. The culmination of the program was a seminar held in American Enterprise Institute in Washington, with participation of Dr. Salah Albandar, Dr. Toby Jones, in addition to Mr Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja-President of BCHR. This was followed by attending a meeting, in Geneva, of UN working group committee against all forms of racial discrimination, in the presence of Albandar. The meeting discussed aspects of sectarian discrimination exists in Bahrain, after discussing the report of the State of Bahrain, as well as the shadow report on the same subject, by the Commission’s experts.
The activities, led by Nabeel Rajab and his colleagues to uncover the scheme mentioned in my first and second Albandar report, have repercussions. After issuing an injunction to prevent the media criticism of Albander report, BCHR homepage as well as of others were barred because they showed interests in the report. Nabeel also received verbal and other forms of threats via short messages (SMS trowels) and anonymous calls directly on his mobile phone, as well as phones of family members, friends and colleagues, let alone targeting members of the Center staff and media blockade for BCHR activities. Furthermore, the same means were implemented to defame and distort the social reputation of Nabeel and his family to pressure him to abandon his human rights activities.
This malicious summon for the activist Nabeel Rajab comes as part of the targeting scheme against activists and defenders of rights to curb their movements and prevent them from delivering more. This is a well known and old methodology by Bahraini Authorities, irrespective of the set forth flimsy arguments. The local Authorities were not able to face and comply with the popular demands to deal positively with the issues mentioned Albandar reports, which refers to the involvement of individuals and institutions of the ruling family. It was expected that the Authorities start the targeting program as a diversion for the popular demand and turning the attention into a legal and security matter, led by prosecutors and a judicial system, known of being dependent or impartiality.
The Committee of Activists is aware this summon is a reaction by the Bahraini Authorities-led by its security bodies-for Nabeel and his colleagues recent activities, aiming to twist arms and break the will of those who showed concerns of Albander report issue. Accordingly, it calls on the Bahraini Authorities to further reason and positively deal with this issue without resorting to force the country in the security zone, characterizing its past history, which will lead to further insecurity and deadlock. We also call upon the Authorities to stop targeting and harassment of activists, including Nabeel Rajab, an old and exposed approach whenever they want not to positively deal with human rights issues. The Bahraini authorities are responsible for any breakdown of security resulting from harassment or any legal measures taken against Rajab, regardless of the way it was presented or produced.
Committee of Solidarity with Activists and Detainees of Conscience in Bahrain
March 12, 2007