{"id":10365,"date":"2012-06-01T13:15:14","date_gmt":"2012-06-01T20:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=10365"},"modified":"2012-06-01T13:15:47","modified_gmt":"2012-06-01T20:15:47","slug":"in-bahrain-life-in-prison-just-for-protesting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=10365","title":{"rendered":"In Bahrain, life in prison just for protesting"},"content":{"rendered":"

Commentary: Among the ridiculous crimes in the US ally: doctors jailed for chanting slogans, a nurse convicted for stepping on the prime minister\u2019s photo.<\/em><\/p>\n

In Bahrain, life in prison just for protesting<\/strong>
\nJoshua Colangelo-Bryan – 31 May, 2012 – Global Post<\/p>\n

NEW YORK \u2014 \u201cOf course we have free speech in Bahrain,\u201d the official told me. \u201cBut you cannot ask to change the government \u2014 that\u2019s a crime.\u201d While it was striking to hear a government representative speak so candidly, it wasn\u2019t exactly news.<\/p>\n

Having extensively researched criminal trials in Bahrain, the island nation off Saudi Arabia\u2019s coast, I knew this perverse understanding of \u201cfree speech\u201d has been the basis for hundreds of prosecutions against peaceful protesters and activists, often leading to lengthy prison sentences.<\/p>\n

On May 16, authorities initiated the latest such prosecution, opening the trial of Nabeel Rajab, a prominent human rights defender, on charges of \u201coffending an official body.\u201d The relevant offense, according to the government, was caused when Rajab criticized authorities via Twitter for not prosecuting attacks by armed groups against civilians.<\/p>\n

Such charges, which once would have perhaps seemed satirical, are by now just commonplace. Indeed, over a year ago, amid massive pro-democracy demonstrations, Bahrain\u2019s king established special military courts, called National Safety Courts. These courts convicted hundreds of people for engaging in peaceful protest and assembly activities that are protected by international law and Bahrain\u2019s constitution \u2014 or would be if courts actually applied the constitution.<\/p>\n

For example, in a high-profile case against 21 activists and opposition figures, the military court sentenced eight defendants to life terms, 10 others to 15-year terms, and three to shorter terms. What manner of conduct led to these severe punishments?<\/p>\n

According to the verdict, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a human rights advocate and protest leader, had \u201cadvocated the overthrow of the regime\u201d by protesting in favor of a republic, as well as \u201ca willingness to sacrifice, disobedience, a general strike, and marches.\u201d Prosecuters also charged that he had \u201cinsulted the army\u201d and \u201cimpugned the integrity of the judiciary.\u201d …source<\/a><\/p>\n

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Commentary: Among the ridiculous crimes in the US ally: doctors jailed for chanting slogans, a nurse convicted for stepping on the prime minister\u2019s photo. In Bahrain, life in prison just for protesting Joshua Colangelo-Bryan – 31 May, 2012 – Global Post NEW YORK \u2014 \u201cOf course we have free speech in Bahrain,\u201d the official told more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247],"tags":[1381],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10365"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10365"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10367,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10365\/revisions\/10367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}