On 21st November, CAAT was proud to join Bahraini activists and supporters from around the UK to protest against the ongoing crackdown and repression in Bahrain. We were saying, free human rights campaigners, such as Nabeel Rajab, free the family of Sayed Alwadaei, stop torture in Bahrain, and stop arming Saudi Arabia which is supporting repression in Bahrain. UK arms sales to Bahrain prop up the repressive regime, and arming Saudi Arabia gives further support to the crushing of democracy in Bahrain.
Free Nabeel Rajab
Nabeel is being punished for exposing repression, torture and the horrors of war.
Sayed Alwadaei spoke at the protest:
“Nabeel is being punished because he turned up for the Yemeni people, who are being killed by British weapons, by US-made weapons. Nabeel is facing 15 years for calling for peace.”
The position Nabeel has been put in is absurd: the public prosecution has consistently failed to provide any evidence against him, and so his trial keeps being postponed. The most recent charges relate to social media posts he allegedly made while he was already in prison, without internet access.
On 22nd November, a Bahraini court upheld Nabeel’s 2 year prison sentence for speaking to journalists. He is still facing an additional 15 after the case on New Year’s Eve.
Want to take action now to free Nabeel Rajab?
Email your MP to ask that they sign Early Day Motion 230 demanding Nabeel’s release.
Don’t know how to contact your MP? The UK Parliament website has details.
Free Sayed Alwadaei’s family
On 30th October, Bahraini human rights activist Sayed Alwadaei’s family were sentenced to three years in prison in reprisal against his human rights work here in the UK. His relatives, Hajer Mansoor Hassan, Sayed Nizar Alwadaei and Mahmood Marzooq Mansoor were arrested, tortured and convicted on trumped-up charges to punish him.
Sayed, who works for the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, explained:
“My wife and infant son have been arrested and mistreated. They are coming after all my family members, just simply because I took action against the Bahraini dictator. A government that could take a two year old child and terrorise him simply because his father decided to stand up against a dictator? This is shameful.”
Want to take action now to free Sayed Alwadaei’s family?
Email your MP to ask that they sign Early Day Motion 509 demanding that the UK government raise concerns about the reprisals against Sayed Alwadaei’s family.
Don’t know how to contact your MP? The UK Parliament website has details.
Stop torture in Bahrain
Saeed Shehabi of the Bahrain Freedom Movement also called upon Britain to stop supporting Bahrain and Saudi Arabia:
“Britain must support democracy. Unfortunately, what we can see is that Britain is allying itself with the most reactionary dictatorships in the world. I do not believe there are any examples worse than those in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.”
Shehabi went on:
“Britain does not have the courage to say to Saudi: stop the war on Yemen, stop arresting people in Bahrain, stop sending your prison inspectors to oversee the torture that is going on. The torture is still going on.”
Want to take action to stop the UK arming Saudi Arabia, to stop the war on Yemen?
Donate to our crowdfunder: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/stop-arming-saudi/
