Bahrain keeps activist behind bars

The Bahraini regime has decided to keep prominent rights activist, Nabeel Rajab, behind bars for a longer time by adjourning his trial.

On Wednesday, a court in the capital Manamah adjourned Rajab’s trial and set a new hearing for Sunday.

Many rights activists and organizations have called on the Al Khalifa regime to release the activist, who is also the director of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR).

In a tweet shared in early October, Rajab said the Bahrainis that join the ISIL Takfiri terrorists in Syria and Iraq are actually members of security agencies belonging to the Persian Gulf monarchy.

“Many #Bahrain men who joined #terrorism #ISIS came from security institutions and those institutions were the first ideological incubator,” Rajab tweeted, using another abbreviation for the ISIL.

The activist was detained after the tweet and charged with “publicly insulting official institutions.” He may have to serve jail terms of up to three years.

He was under the regime’s custody in Jaw prison in eastern Bahrain from July 9, 2012, until May this year.

Since mid-February 2011, thousands of pro-democracy protesters have held numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa royal family to relinquish power.

On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on peaceful protesters.

NT/AS/SS