Letter From a Bahraini Jail
2011 Ion Ratiu Democracy Award Winner Nabeel Rajab pens a New York Times Op-Ed regarding his recent detention in a Bahraini jail cell.
This op-ed was originally published in the .
By NABEEL RAJAB SEPT. 4, 2016
RIFFA, Bahrain 鈥 I write this from a Bahraini jail cell where I have been detained, largely in isolation, since the beginning of summer. This is not new to me: I have been here before, from 2012 to 2014, in 2015, and now again, all because of my work as a human rights defender.
Nor am I alone: There are some in , which has the prison population per capita in the Middle East. This is a country that has subjected its people to imprisonment, torture and even death for daring to desire democracy. My close colleague Abdulhadi al-Khawaja was and sentenced to life in prison in 2011 for his human rights work.
No one has been properly held to account for systematic abuses that have affected thousands. In 2015, I was arrested on new charges of 鈥渋nsulting a statutory body鈥 and 鈥渟preading rumors during a time of war鈥 for posts on Twitter. The police held me from April to July last year. I was only after the king of Bahrain issued a pardon in an earlier case, also related to views I had expressed.
Despite the pardon, the 2015 charges and a travel ban remained in place, and I was threatened with further action. The head of the cybercrimes unit at the Criminal Investigation Directorate in Bahrain summoned me and my family to a meeting, where 鈥 in front of my children 鈥 he warned me that if I didn鈥檛 stop my advocacy work, I would to 15 years in prison.
That threat became reality when I was arrested in June. The warrant came from the same cybercrimes unit chief who threatened me last year, and I now face prosecution for my work exposing human rights abuses. The authorities even added a third charge of 鈥渋nsulting a neighboring country,鈥 meaning Saudi Arabia. They have also laid a new charge against me of spreading 鈥渇alse news,鈥 in relation to interviews to the news media. It鈥檚 quite the rap sheet.
My supposed 鈥渋nsult鈥 to Saudi Arabia relates to tweets I posted calling for an end to the war in Yemen, a war escalated by the Saudi-led coalition to which Bahrain belongs and for which the United States provides support. The United States has multibillion-dollar arms sales to the Saudis since the war began last year.
From the beginning, I was against the war. The civilian death toll was immediate and catastrophic, and I spoke out against the unfolding humanitarian crisis, calling for peace. Now, I am paying the price.
I met Secretary of State on his visit to Bahrain earlier this year and was glad to talk with him about our difficult situation. Mr. Kerry criticized the boycott of the 2014 election by opposition parties, although the opposition鈥檚 demand was simply for a constitutional monarchy in place of Bahrain鈥檚 autocratic system. Since that election, the leader of the largest opposition group, the , was for 鈥減romoting violence,鈥 and the society was suspended and its assets frozen.
I would like to ask Mr. Kerry now: Is this the kind of ally America wants? The kind that punishes its people for thinking, that prevents its citizens from exercising their basic rights?
The government has gone after me not only for my comments on Yemen, but also for my domestic activism. One of my charges, 鈥渋nsulting a statutory body,鈥 concerns my work shedding light on the of hundreds of prisoners in Jaw Prison in March 2015. The State Department has highlighted the same problem, but last year the arms embargo it had placed on Bahrain since the repressions that followed the 2011 Arab Spring protests, citing 鈥渕eaningful progress on human rights reforms.鈥 Really?
After I met Mr. Kerry, I was interrogated at the Interior Ministry by the chief of the cybercrimes unit, the one who later ordered my arrest. He wanted to know everything about my conversation with the secretary of state. That official interrogated me again in April after I signed an open letter, with 25 other activists, calling on President Obama to discuss human rights and the plight of activists in the Middle East when he Saudi Arabia earlier this year.
The Bahraini government tried to pressure me into publicly disavowing the letter. I refused.
Recent American on Bahrain鈥檚 human rights problems have been strong, and that is good. But unless the United States is willing to use its leverage, fine words have little effect. America鈥檚 actions, on the other hand, have emboldened the government to detain me and other rights advocates: Its unconditional support for Saudi Arabia and its lifting of the arms ban on Bahrain have direct consequences for the activists struggling for dignity in these countries.
Instead of fanning the flames in Yemen by supplying arms to the Saudi coalition, Mr. Obama鈥檚 administration should use its leverage to resolve the conflict. Working to secure the release of people who call for peace, and are trying to build democracy in the region, would serve that aim.
Update: After this Op-Ed letter was published, with publishing 鈥渇alse news and statements and malicious rumors that undermine the prestige of the kingdom.鈥
About the Author
Nabeel Rajab
Human Rights Activist; President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Bahrain.
Global Europe Program
The Global Europe Program is focused on Europe鈥檚 capabilities, and how it engages on critical global issues.聽 We investigate European approaches to critical global issues. We examine Europe鈥檚 relations with Russia and Eurasia, China and the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa. Our initiatives include 鈥淯kraine in Europe鈥 鈥 an examination of what it will take to make Ukraine鈥檚 European future a reality.聽 But we also examine the role of NATO, the European Union and the OSCE, Europe鈥檚 energy security, transatlantic trade disputes, and challenges to democracy. The Global Europe Program鈥檚 staff, scholars-in-residence, and Global Fellows participate in seminars, policy study groups, and international conferences to provide analytical recommendations to policy makers and the media. Read more
