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Bahrain Sentences Activist to 3 Years in Prison for \'Inciting\' Protests

By ROBERT MACKEY and KAREEM FAHIM

An interview with Nabeel Rajab, a Bahraini rights activist, conducted at his home on July 9, shortly before he was arrested for criticizing the country's prime minister on Twitter.

Bahrain sentenced a leading rights activist to three years in prison on Thursday for “inciting” anti-government protests in speeches and Twitter updates, the state news agency reports.

The activist, Nabeel Rajab, is the president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. He has been an outspoken supporter of demonstrations that began last year, calling on the country's ruling monarchy to introduce democratic reforms. Mr. Rajab was jailed last month for posting a critical jibe about the country's prime minister on Twitter.

Mr. Rajab's lawyer, Mohamed Al-Jishi, said that his client was given year-long sentences on three separate charges of “participati ng in illegal rallies and gatherings.” Mr. Jishi said that at most, he was expecting Mr. Rajab to receive a few months on each count. “The military courts gave a maximum of six months,” he said. “This is too much.” Mr. Jishi said he had appealed the sentences.

Mona Kareem, an activist blogger from Kuwait, reported on Twitter that Mr. Rajab's son said that his father reacted with defiance to the verdict.

Mr. Rajab's wife Sumaya, who was with him in court, told The Associated Press: “What happened today in the court room shows clearly there is no justice or independent judiciary.” She added: “My husband is not a criminal but a hostage of a government which can't stand freedom of expression and fre edom of assembly.”

Mr. Jishi said that a verdict in Mr. Rajab's appeal of his prior conviction for insulting the country's prime minister on Twitter had been delayed until August 23.

Mr. Jishi noted that representatives of several foreign governments, including the United States, were in the courtroom when the verdict was read. “They are sending a message,” Mr. Jishi said of the government, adding that a speech given by the country's king earlier in the week - in which the monarch spoke of a duty to “protect peaceful, good-natured citizens who do not seek to usurp power” - reinforced the message.

Last week, 17 members of Congress and two senators sent a letter to Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, urging him “to order Mr. Rajab's release under the universal principle that that all citizens should have the right to peacefully express disagreement with their government.”

In his address to the nation two days ago, the king again sugg ested that the protests in Bahrain were part of a foreign plot. “The Kingdom of Bahrain has always remained throughout the ages a coveted place for the greedy, however, our people knew how to persistently tackle the enemy and to unite their ranks, consolidate their discourse and allegiance to the ruler and crush the ambitions of foes,” he said.

The monarch added: “We have had to endure this year through challenging conditions due to hostile ambitions and foreign intervention which are yet to cease. We stood as united front in the face of strife mongers. We faced them with determination and persistent willpower as our duty and responsibility makes it imperative to defend this homeland, we will maintain our national unity and protect Bahraini people.”

In a video interview shortly before his arrest last month, Mr. Rajab told the Irish human rights group Front Line Defenders that the presence of the United States Navy's Fifth Fleet, which is based in Bahrain, made the struggle against the monarchy more difficult. “Because they have the support of the United States, they have the support, or the silence, of the international community, that is seen here as a green signal, that's why they are proceeding - more repression, more attacks against human rights defenders.”

Mr. Rajab pledged to continue calling for democracy despite the personal cost, adding: “I think we have to pay a much higher price than what normally people pay for freedom and democracy because you will not hear much about what's going on here, as much as you will hear things happening in different countries.”

According to the state-run Bahrain News Agency, the prosecutor, Mohamed Hazza, claimed that Mr. Rajab had, in one case, “called in public speeches for a demonstration to confront public security personnel, inciting violence and escalation against law enforcement officers, resulting in deaths during those confrontations. Following his speec h, a demonstration raged through Manama, turning into an illegal assembly intending to undermine law and order, block roads and assault public security personnel.”

The Lower Criminal Court in the capital, Manama, also found Mr. Rajab guilty of “inciting illegal assemblies and organizing unlicensed demonstrations through social media websites,” in two other cases.

Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, condemned the decision to jail Mr. Rajab “solely for peacefully exercising his right to freedom of expression and assembly.” She added: “this latest verdict marks the end of the facade of reform in Bahrain. The international community can no longer be under the illusion that Bahrain is on the path of reform when confronted with such blatant and ruthless tactics of suppressing dissenting voices. Bahrain's international partners need to make this loud and clear to the Bahraini authorities.”

Ken Roth of Human Rights Watch expressed his dismay over the verdict in similar terms.

The verdict came a day after one of Mr. Rajab's colleagues at the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Said Yousif al-Muhafdah, said he was beaten and briefly detained at a security checkpoint. Mr. Muhafdah posted an account of his treatment by the police on Twitter after he was released.

Bahrain has jailed several other prominent rights activists recently. Mr. Rajab's predecessor as president of the human rights center, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, was sentenced to life in prison by a military court for his role in last year's protests. That verdict was voided in April and Mr. Khawaja and several other activists are now waiting for a court to rule following a retrial.

Mr. Khawaja's daughter, Zainab, who has charted the protest movement in Bahrain on her @AngryArabiya Twitter feed, was also jailed last month.