Manama Authorities Deny Bail for Bahraini Activist Ignor Calls by Right Groups

Rasa - Authorities in Bahrain denied bail for an opposition leader who has been in jail since 2012 on charges of writing an editorial critical of ruling Al Khalifa dynasty, The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy reported.

News ID: 429699

Date: 17 May 2017 - 22:18

RNA - The rights group added that Nabeel Rajab's health is deteriorating after he underwent an operation last month for bleeding ulcers, Al Waght reported.

Rajab was a leading figure in a 2011 pro-democracy uprising led by Bahrain's Shi'ite Muslim majority and he has been repeatedly detained by the Western-backed Al Khalifa regime.

In a New York Times column published under his byline in September, the prominent human rights activist addressed readers in the first person, saying he was writing from a "Bahraini jail cell where I have been detained, largely in isolation, since the beginning of summer".

The column said Bahrain was a country "that has subjected its people to imprisonment, torture and even death for daring to desire democracy".

Rajab faces a separate trial for tweets he is accused of criticizing the killing of civilians in Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition.

On December 28, 2016 a Bahraini court ordered his release but the authorities refused to release him and instead he was immediately re-arrested and taken into custody in relation to another investigation into TV interviews he gave in 2015 and 2016

The United Nations Committee against Torture on Friday called on Bahrain to release Rajab from more than nine months of solitary confinement and investigate widespread allegations of ill-treatment and torture of detainees.

Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the kingdom in 2011.

On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to Bahrain to assist the Manama government in its crackdown on peaceful protesters.

Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or got arrested as a result of the Manama regime’s crackdown on anti-regime activists.

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