Nabeel Rajab Sentenced to Three Years in Prison

On August 16, Nabeel Rajab, the President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), was sentenced to 3 years in prison based on 3 convictions for “participating in illegal gatherings and assemblies.” This is just the latest case of the Bahraini government’s unjust prosecutions of human rights defenders.

Abdulhadi Alkhwaja remains in prison. Zaineb Alkhawaja is in prison while she is being prosecuted on charges related to her activism. Maryam Alkhawaja, the head of the International Office of the BCHR who resides in Copenhagen, Denmark, is once again its Acting President.

In June a Bahraini court upheld the convictions of 9 Salmoniya doctors and overturned the convictions of 9 other Salmoniya doctors.

Also in June the New York Times published an article quoting a Bahraini protest sign that read, “U.S.A. Stop arming the killers.” The sign referred to the US government’s sale of weapons to Bahrain, a topic that was discussed on AJE’s Inside Story.

UPDATE (9/7/12): On September 4 a Bahrain civilian appeals court upheld the life sentence of Abdulhadi Alkhawaja.