A prominent human rights activist in Bahrain was released from prison on Saturday after spending nearly two years behind bars.
Nabeel Rajab, who heads the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, was sentenced to three years in 2012 on charges of encouraging “illegal gatherings” tied to anti-government protests in the country. An appeals court later reduced his term by a year.
After his release from prison, Rajab was greeted by dozens of supporters and stopped to visit his mother’s grave before heading home.
Photo: AFP
The activist is a key icon for the protest movement against the Gulf Arab monarchy’s Sunni rulers. Since 2011, the country’s majority Shiites have been protesting, demanding greater rights and political freedoms.
A statement from the Bahrain Center for Human Rights said Rajab was imprisoned for “advocating peaceful demonstrations to defend the civil and human rights of all the citizens in the country.”
Rajab told reporters that he is happy to be out after more than 600 days in prison, and called for the release of all political prisoners.
He said stability can only be achieved “through respect for human rights.”
“After two years in prison, I see Bahrain’s political environment as more difficult and still without a roadmap for real reforms,” he said.
In the middle of 2012, Rajab was also sentenced to three months for his comments on Twitter about Bahrain’s prime minister. His conviction was overturned on appeal during his prison sentence for taking part in protests.
Also on Saturday, thousands of people marched in a funeral for 15-year-old Sayed Mohsen, who died during protests earlier in the week in Sitra, south Manama.
The procession turned violent when mourners clashed with Bahraini security forces nearby. Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd.
Mohsen’s family and the country’s main opposition group, al-Wifaq, said the teenager died after being shot in the chest at close range with bird shot — a weapon commonly used by Bahraini police.
The Ministry of the Interior said that police were investigating the circumstances of the death.
The ministry said Bahraini police in Sitra reacted after being attacked with firebombs on Wednesday during a funeral procession of a man who had died earlier in a bomb blast.
“While the specific circumstances in which Sayed Mohsen was shot remain unclear, the use of force in policing public assemblies ... must conform to the requirements of necessity and proportionality; and firearms may only be used as a last resort,” Amnesty International said in a statement.
The rights group urged an independent and transparent inquiry into the teenager’s death.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that saw the release of hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), officials said on Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that 189 Ukrainian prisoners, including military personnel, border guards and national guards — along with two civilians — were freed. He thanked the UAE for helping negotiate the exchange. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that 150 Russian troops were freed from captivity as part of the exchange in which each side released 150 people. The reason for the discrepancy in numbers
BLOODSHED: North Koreans take extreme measures to avoid being taken prisoner and sometimes execute their own forces, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday said that Russian and North Korean forces sustained heavy losses in fighting in Russia’s southern Kursk region. Ukrainian and Western assessments say that about 11,000 North Korean troops are deployed in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces occupy swathes of territory after staging a mass cross-border incursion in August last year. In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy quoted a report from Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi as saying that the battles had taken place near the village of Makhnovka, not far from the Ukrainian border. “In battles yesterday and today near just one village, Makhnovka,
A shark attack off Egypt’s Red Sea coast killed a tourist and injured another, authorities said on Sunday, with an Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs source identifying both as Italian nationals. “Two foreigners were attacked by a shark in the northern Marsa Alam area, which led to the injury of one and the death of the other,” the Egyptian Ministry of Environment said in a statement. A source at the Italian foreign ministry said that the man killed was a 48-year-old resident of Rome. The injured man was 69 years old. They were both taken to hospital in Port Ghalib, about 50km north
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland on Tuesday expressed concern about “the political crisis” in Georgia, two days after Mikheil Kavelashvili was formally inaugurated as president of the South Caucasus nation, cementing the ruling party’s grip in what the opposition calls a blow to the country’s EU aspirations and a victory for former imperial ruler Russia. “We strongly condemn last week’s violence against peaceful protesters, media and opposition leaders, and recall Georgian authorities’ responsibility to respect human rights and protect fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to assembly and media freedom,” the three ministers wrote in a joint statement. In reaction
RSS