Bahrain Mirror: The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), said in a joint statement that the verdict issued against prominent human rights defender Nabeel Rajab is "surrealistic", and that it came after a trial that was by itself a mockery of justice.

The statement said that the verdict illustrates once again the current crackdown of any dissenting voice in Bahrain, where scores of critics are currently jailed, considering that today Bahrain is under a blackout. The Observatory reiterated in its call to the Bahraini authorities to immediately release him as well as all detained human rights defenders.

"Nabeel Rajab is not a criminal, he is a prominent human rights defender and political prisoner", FIDH President Dimitris Christopoulos highlighted.

"This continuous harassment, which illustrates once more the Government's relentless efforts to silence the whole Bahraini civil society, must stop. It is urgent for the international community to make sure Bahrain's authorities cannot get away with their crackdown on human rights defenders any longer", OMCT Secretary General Gerald Staberock added.

Nabeel Rajab has been in arbitrary, solitary and pre-trial detention since June 13, 2016, despite his deteriorating health conditions. After being hospitalized, his return to prison has been marked by new persecutions and dangerous, humiliating and degrading detention conditions. Beaten on his arrival, and woken up and searched in the middle of the night, his belongings were confiscated and his head was shaved. Since November 20, 2017, he is being held in Jaw prison in a segregated wing with convicted ISIS terrorists, putting his safety at risk.

Arabic Version