Bahrain 1st-Hand: Nabeel Rajab's Wife Describes The "Judicial Farce" of His Appeal
Friday, October 19, 2012 at 0:28>
Nabeel Rajab, briefly released from prison, at his mother's funeral on 5 October
Nabeel Rajab, President of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, was in court on Tuesday to appeal his three-year sentence for organising and participating in protests, only to hear that the appeal is postponed to 8 November. One witness, Stéphanie David of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) was denied entry to Bahrain, and the judge refused the defence's request for the testimony on others on the grounds that this would not be "relevant".
In a statement, The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders said the appeal proceedings "blatantly violate[d] the rights of the defence" and called on "the Bahraini authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Rajab and to put an end to all acts of judicial harassment against him".
Last night, Nabeel's wife Sameera posted an account of the hearing:
(1) I'll tweet details of Nabeel Rajab's trial which was on (Oct 16) and I'll number tweets coz they'll be many and very important #Bahrain
— SumayaRajab (@binmrajab) October 18, 2012