Bahrain Mirror: Human Rights organizations condemned the arrest of prominent human rights defender and president of Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), Nabeel Rajab, by Bahraini authorities on Monday (June 13, 2016), stressing that all human rights activists must have the freedom to operate in their own country.

The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain, European Centre for Democracy and Human Rights, Gulf Centre for Human Rights, and Justice Human Rights Organisation considered that Rajab's repeated arrests contravene his rights to freedom of expression and association, as protected by articles 19 and 22 of the International Protocol on Civil and Political Rights, which Bahrain acceded to in 2006.

The HR groups called on the Bahraini authorities to immediately release Nabeel Rajab from police custody, drop all charges and lift travel ban imposed on him and allow all human rights defenders, including Zainab Al-Khawaja, Nabeel Rajab and Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, to live and work in their country without unjust restrictions on their rights to free assembly, association, expression and movement.

They also called for the release of all prisoners of conscience and political prisoners, as well as allowing the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression to enter Bahrain and repeal all legal restrictions on civil society.

The rights organizations also called on the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to condemn Bahrain's violation of the freedom of movement of its civil society figures, who were prevented from travelling to the UN Human Rights Council Session in Geneva earlier this week, and cease all ongoing technical cooperation programs with Bahrain until such time as proper protection for civil society participants can be effectively guaranteed.

They further urged the United Kingdom and United States to immediately call for the unconditional release of Nabeel Rajab and putting an end to restrictions on civil society, suspend technical assistance programs until legal restrictions on civil society are repealed and suspend all arms sales to Bahrain.

Arabic Version