Bahrain activist’s trial postponed, rights groups demand release

DUBAI — The trial in Bahrain of prominent rights activist Nabeel Rajab was postponed until August 2 on Tuesday and a request for his release rejected, his lawyer said, hours after 26 rights groups jointly called for him to be freed.

Bahrain has made no public statements on Rajab’s case, but his lawyer has said charges against him relate to anti-government tweets he allegedly published last year, including one accusing the security forces of torturing detainees.

Rajab was a leading figure in a 2011 pro-democracy uprising led by Bahrain’s Shiite Muslim majority, and he has been repeatedly detained.

His latest arrest comes during what rights groups say is an escalating crackdown on Bahrain’s opposition.

The trial was postponed until August 2 and a request for his release by the defence was turned down, his lawyer Mohammed Al Jishi wrote on Twitter without elaborating.

Shiites in Bahrain complain of discrimination from the Sunni-led government, which denies this.

In recent weeks, a court shut down a main Shiite opposition society and the interior ministry stripped the spiritual leader of the island’s Shiite of his citizenship.

Violence between Shiite and security forces has continued on the island since the 2011 uprising was put down with the help of Saudi Arabia.

Hours before Rajab’s hearing was due to take place, 26 human rights groups put out a joint statement.

“We remind the Bahraini government of its obligation to preserve the right to free expression,” the campaign groups, including Human Rights First and Physicians for Human Rights, said.

“We reiterate repeated calls by United Nations officials, and others in the international community, to immediately release Rajab,” they added.

Rajab was taken to hospital for a day late last month for what his supporters said was an irregular heart beat, but a spokesman for the prisons authority described his condition as “normal”, in a statement e-mailed to Reuters.