By Brian Dooley
12 June 2012

The Bahraini government’s crackdown has no end in sight as leading human rights defenders continue to be targeted. Nabeel Rajab was arrested and detained again last week, only days after being released from custody. Rajab is the President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, a leading NGO in Bahrain that documents and publicizes human rights violations in the country. The work of Rajab and the Center has been consistently acknowledged by international human rights organizations, and within just the last year, won the Roger Baldwin Medal of Liberty, the Ion Ratiu Democracy Award and is a nominee for the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA) 2012.

Charged with multiple offences, Rajab is to spend at least a week in custody. According to his lawyer, these include taking part in an illegal gathering and tweeting criticism of the government.
Other defenders have also been targets of government harassment.