« Rebellion in the Suites: Tax Collectors and BusinesspeopleFabricated Claims About Russian Plot to Disrupt US Elections »

Bahraini Political Prisoner Nabeel Rajab Speaks Out

September 9th, 2016

Stephen Lendman

The US-supported despotic Bahraini regime repeatedly targeted Rajab and other human rights defenders for their redoubtable activism - murdering some, mass imprisoning others on trumped up charges no legitimate tribunal would uphold.

Rajab is unjustly detained under harsh conditions, facing longterm imprisonment on fabricated charges of spreading “false or malicious news, offending a foreign country (meaning Saudi Arabia for criticizing its genocidal war on Yemen), and offending a statutory body.”

He’s been confined in isolation for the past three months. Surprisingly he got New York Times op-ed space to express his views, writing from prison where he’s detained - “all because of my work as a human rights defender,” he explained, adding he’s not alone.

Around “4,000 political prisoners in Bahrain” languish in gulag hell, tortured and ill-treated “for daring to desire democracy,” said Rajab. Fellow redoubtable human rights defender Abdulhadi al-Khawaja was sentenced to life in prison in 2011 for daring to speak truth to power.

“No one has been properly held to account for systematic abuses” affecting everyone challenging regime authority, said Rajab. Tyranny works this way, Bahrain one of the region’s leading exponents, ruling brutally like neighboring Saudis.

Before his current detention, Rajab was warned he’d face longterm imprisonment if he “didn’t stop his advocacy work.” His commitment to human rights, equal justice and peace got him arrested and brutalized.

“I would like to ask (John) Kerry,” he said. “Is this the kind of ally America wants? The kind that punishes its people for thinking, that prevents its citizens for exercising their basic rights?”

Last spring, he signed an open letter, along with 25 other human rights activists, “calling on (Obama) to discuss human rights and the plight of activists in the Middle East when he visited Saudi Arabia earlier this year” - an issue Washington ignores in dealings with a rogue’s gallery of despotic regimes.

Imprisonment and brutal treatment took a toll on Rajab’s health - on September 1, activist Fadi al-Qadi tweeting: “Jail ate his health.”

After his op-ed letter appeared in The Times, the paper said he was charged with publishing “false news and statements and malicious rumors that undermine the prestige of the kingdom.”

Given his poor health and denial of medical treatment, he’ll likely perish in Bahraini gulag hell without foreign pressure from America and/or other Western nations to free him.

-###-

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network

No feedback yet

Voices  Share this page

Voices

  • Cesare Sacchetti When Donald Trump in 2016 walked down the mobile stairs of his New York residence, the Trump Tower, many prominent members of the deep state were anguished by a feeling of both panic and fear. Panic because for the first time after the…
  • Jeff Thomas The decline from democracy to tyranny is both a natural and inevitable one. That’s not a pleasant thought to have to consider, but it’s a fact, nonetheless. In every case, a democracy will deteriorate as the result of the electorate…
  • Walter Gelles Legal trickery would silence Dr. Charles Hoffe Prominent Canadian physician Dr. Charles Hoffe has spoken out courageously to warn people of the very serious dangers of the Covid mRNA genetic "vaccines". He now faces trial from the Canadian…
  • Stephen Lendman [04/05/23][Stephen died on May 9th, 2023, about a month after he wrote this article.] Illegitimately installed Biden regime criminals run the empire of lies and forever wars. A previous article discussed Trump’s politicized indictment,…
  • Linh Dinh [Pakse, Laos on 6/5/23] Sherwood Anderson, “For a time he was lonely and wrote to Alice almost every day. Then he was caught up by the life of the city; he began to make friends and found new interests in life.” Why quote a rather plain…
  • Walter Gelles Breaking News: "A prominent Canadian doctor who is bravely speaking out about the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) 'vaccine' damage he is observing in many of his patients is facing trial this March over accusations of professional misconduct.…
  • Ethan Huff & Lioness of Judah Ministry A prominent Canadian doctor who is bravely speaking out about the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) "vaccine" damage is facing trial this March over accusations of professional misconduct. Dr. Charles Hoffe is the…
  • James Howard Kunstler “How many of these places where polite society turns out to be provably insane do we have to see before we stop taking their judgment on anything as significant?” — Bret Weinstein The USA is a runaway train with a dead man in the…
  • M. K. BHADRAKUMAR [[05/23/23]] The G7 Leaders’ 2700-word statement on Ukraine, issued in Hiroshima after their summit meeting glossed over the burning question today — the so-called counter-offensive against the Russian forces. It is a deafening…
  • F. William Engdahl [04/25/23] Why are major governments, corporations, think tanks and the Davos WEF all promoting a Zero Carbon global agenda to eliminate use of oil, gas, coal? They know that the turn to solar and wind-based electricity is impossible.…
March 2024
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
 << <   > >>
          1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31            

  XML Feeds

b2
FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted articles and information about environmental, political, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. This news and information is displayed without profit for educational purposes, in accordance with, Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law. Thepeoplesvoice.org is a non-advocacy internet web site, edited by non-affiliated U.S. citizens. editor
ozlu Sozler GereksizGercek Hava Durumu Firma Rehberi Hava Durumu Firma Rehberi E-okul Veli Firma Rehberi