Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards

In an earlier post of 18 December I reported that  Sayed Yousif Al-Muhafda was detained (again). After the arrest of most leaders, he was one of the few left to continue the work of the courageous group, the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, and came to Geneva in October last year to represent the NGO as 2012 nominee of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders.

A court in Bahrain on Thursday released him on bail pending trial for charges of spreading false news to harm security, according to Amnesty International. Al-Muhafda is scheduled to appear in court on January 29 2013 when witnesses are expected to testify. In view of earlier experience with HRDs on trial in Bahrain one should not expect too much.

Related articles

• Bahraini human rights defender Sayed Yousif Al-Muhafdha arrested again! (thoolen.wordpress.com)
• Bahrain court releases human rights activist on bail pending trial (jurist.org)
• Bahrain court grants bail to activist: Amnesty (dailystar.com.lb)

This entry was posted on January 21, 2013 at 11:41 and is filed under AI, human rights, Human Rights Defenders.

Tags: Amnesty International, Bahrain, Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Geneva, illegal detention, judicial harassment, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, Non-governmental organization, release on bail, Sayed Yousif Al-Muhafda, Sayed Yousif Almuhafda