Bahraini Activist Nabeel Rajab Summoned by Police

Nabeel Rajab, President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), was summoned to a police station on August 19 for “deliberately posting sensational propaganda and false information on his social networking site likely to disrupt public order, spark fear among people, damage public interests and defame authorities,” according to Maryam al-Khawaja, Head of Foreign Relations at BCHR. Rajab was not arrested or imprisoned, and the videotaped interrogation, conducted by Ministry of Interior personnel, ended in about an hour.

According to Rajab, his interrogators had printed copies of things he had written on Twitter, and questioned him about his opinions and writings. Al-Khawaja reports that they also questioned Rajab about AlAsheeri, who died in police custody with obvious marks of torture. When told that AlAsheeri died of Sickle Cell disease, Rajab responded that he had evidence of AlAsheeri’s severe torture. Rajab reiterated that he would stand by his writings and continue to post on Twitter. His interrogators informed him that his case would be transferred to public prosecution. The North Police director-general reportedly said: “Nabeel Rajab has been notified to abide by the law in exercising his right to freedom of expression, as stipulated in the constitution, and commit to legal constraints.”

“This is only one of a lengthy campaign of targeting human rights activists like Nabeel Rajab who is one of the leading activists in the country,” al-Khawaja comments.