{"id":19200,"date":"2013-12-03T12:25:03","date_gmt":"2013-12-03T19:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=19200"},"modified":"2013-12-03T12:23:32","modified_gmt":"2013-12-03T19:23:32","slug":"bahrain-court-of-injustice-deny-early-release-of-nabeel-rajab-imprisoned-for-insults-peaceful-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=19200","title":{"rendered":"Bahrain Court of Injustice Refuse Release of Nabeel Rajab – Imprisoned for Insults, Peaceful Protest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"rajabprisoner\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bahrain court rejects jailed activist’s plea for release<\/strong>
\nby Rania El Gamal – The Star Online – 3 December, 2013<\/p>\n

DUBAI (Reuters) – A Bahraini court has rejected a request by a prominent human rights advocate that he be freed after serving three-quarters of a prison term for taking part in unlicensed protests.<\/p>\n

Bahrain, where the Sunni Muslim Al Khalifa family rules over a majority Shi’ite population, has been in political turmoil since Shi’ite-led pro-democracy protests erupted in 2011.<\/p>\n

The island kingdom is a base for the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, which patrols oil shipping lanes in the Gulf region.<\/p>\n

Lawyer Mohammed al-Jishi said rights campaigner Nabeel Rajab, sentenced last year to two years in prison for cases related to organising and participating in protests, had a legal right to early release after spending a year and half in jail.<\/p>\n

“But the court rejected the request to release him without giving any reasons,” Jishi told Reuters by telephone from Manama after Monday’s ruling, which several foreign diplomats attended.<\/p>\n

The government’s Information Affairs Authority confirmed the court had deemed Rajab “not eligible” for early release.<\/p>\n

“Rajab has continuously called upon the citizens to defy the laws of public gathering which resulted in violence,” the IAA said in a statement emailed to Reuters on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

It said many security personnel had been wounded by people throwing petrol bombs and steel rods as a result.<\/p>\n

“Rajab’s speeches included encouraging youths to confront the authorities,” the IAA said. “Incitement of any sort is a violation of the constitution and laws of Bahrain that are in line with international standards.”<\/p>\n

Rajab shot to prominence in 2011 when he campaigned against a crackdown on protesters. With 217,000 followers on Twitter he is one of the Arab world’s best-known online activists.<\/p>\n

A hero to protesters but a villain to those Bahrainis who fear they will bring Shi’ite Islamists to power, Rajab is the founder of the non-governmental Bahrain Centre for Human Rights.<\/p>\n

An organiser of many protests against the powers of the Al Khalifa dynasty, he was sentenced to three months in jail last year in a separate case over a tweet criticising the veteran prime minister, the king’s uncle. The ruling was overturned, but only after Rajab had already served his sentence.<\/p>\n

London-based Amnesty International and U.S.-based Human Rights First have called for him to be freed.<\/p>\n

“It’s depressing but no big surprise that Nabeel Rajab was not released,” said Brian Dooley, of Human Rights First.<\/p>\n

“Recent weeks have seen an increased targeting of human rights defenders by the authorities and freeing him would have gone against that trend.”<\/p>\n

Bahrain, which effectively bans protests and gatherings not licensed by the government, has been caught up in a struggle for influence between Shi’ite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

Bahrain quelled the 2011 revolt with help from Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-ruled Gulf states, but protests and small-scale clashes persist and bomb attacks have multiplied since mid-2012.<\/p>\n

Talks between the government and opposition have failed to end the political standoff. Many Shi’ites complain of political and economic discrimination, a charge the authorities deny. …source<\/a><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bahrain court rejects jailed activist’s plea for release by Rania El Gamal – The Star Online – 3 December, 2013 DUBAI (Reuters) – A Bahraini court has rejected a request by a prominent human rights advocate that he be freed after serving three-quarters of a prison term for taking part in unlicensed protests. Bahrain, where 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\/19200"}],"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=19200"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19204,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19200\/revisions\/19204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}