Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab arrested

Human rights defender Nabeel Rajab was arrested on 2 April, reportedly accused of spreading “false news” in tweets about torture in Jaw prison

Nabeel Rajab’s wife Sumaya reports that over 20 police vehicles were sent to the house to arrest him, allegedly “for tweets he had made about torture in Jaw prison.”

Nabeel Rajab, the President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) and co-founder of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), is already facing a six-month sentence for tweeting and has an appeals verdict on 15 April.

The arrest comes amid serious concerns about conditions at Jaw prison, and questions about the whereabouts of prisoners including human rights defender Naji Fateel.

On 10 March 2015, BCHR, ADHRB and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) report that “Bahraini security forces allegedly attacked prisoners at Jaw Prison using rubber bullets, tear gas, and shotgun pellets. Leaked pictures from Jaw Prison show numerous injuries including several that seemed to be serious.” Prisoners blocked the entrance to the building in protest after they heard that a police officer had allegedly hit a woman visiting her brother.

Naji Fateel, a board member of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) who is serving a 15-year sentence for his human rights work, was caught up in the events of 10 March and has since been subjected to enforced disappearance within the prison.

According to a witness who provided testimony to BCHR, he and Fateel were in Building 4 together “when they heard the sounds of clashes.” Although Fateel was not involved in the protests, he was beaten when security officers later entered the building and removed all the inmates while beating them. The witness says that Fateel was badly beaten and separated from other inmates. He reportedly was taken away and there has been no news of him since then. Another nine inmates were taken away, including Ahmed Al-Humaidan, the imprisoned photographer, whose whereabouts are unknown.

Al-Humaidan’s family has had no news from him in 20 days and were told that a pre-scheduled visit of 30 March has been cancelled, as no visits with him are allowed yet. Most prisoners at Jaw prison are reportedly still banned from receiving family visits and phone calls.

Another political prisoner who has not been heard from is Jaffar Ali Aoun, who was taken away with the other nine prisoners to Building 10. His family has not heard from him and are worried about his safety as a released prisoner reported that prisoners may face charges over the disturbance on 10 March.

On 2 March 2015, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, the founder of the GCHR and former President of the BCHR, began a water-only hunger strike in protest of his continued arbitrary detention, poor prison conditions, and restrictions on family contact, lack of investigation into torture of prisoners and other mistreatment of political prisoners. He is serving a life sentence for his human rights activities.

After three weeks, on 22 March, he stopped the hunger strike when prison officials asked him for time to address his demands. He had threatened to stop drinking water if they did not respond by 29 March. On 18 March, 27 NGOs and individuals signed a letter calling for Al-Khawaja to be freed, which outlines the demands.

In March, the Danish Embassy tried to meet with Al-Khawaja but the meeting was cancelled when Al-Khawaja refused to undergo a “humiliating body search”. Other members of the Bahrain 13, a group of prisoners including Al-Khawaja who were sentenced together in June 2011 in relation to pro-democracy protests, also reportedly went on hunger strike earlier in March. This includes human rights defender and blogger Dr. Abduljalil Al-Singace, sentenced to life in prison during the Bahrain 13 trial, who reportedly began a hunger strike on 21 March, despite ongoing health issues.