Bahrain Mirror: British daily "The Guardian" reported that "more than 20 MPs from seven parties in the UK parliament have urged the British foreign secretary to echo US government calls for the release of the Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab. 

In a letter to Boris Johnson ahead of the trial, which had been due to be held on Thursday, MPs from the Conservatives, Labor, the Scottish National party, the Democratic Unionist party, the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and the SDLP asked the Foreign Office to express its concern, the newspaper added.

"We urge you [...] to make it clear to Bahraini officials that the United Kingdom wishes to see his unconditional release from prison, and for the charges brought against him, which are related to his right to freedom of expression and freedom of speech, to be dropped," it reads.

On her part, MP Margaret Ferrier, the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on democracy and human rights in the Gulf, who coordinated the letter, said, "This is a matter of freedom of speech and expression. Nabeel Rajab is highly regarded as a prominent human rights activist, and these charges are little more than an attempt by Bahraini authorities to silence a dissenting voice."

Among the MPs who have signed the letter include Labour's Andy Slaughter and Ann Clywd, the Lib Dems' Tom Brake and Alastair Carmichael, the Greens' Caroline Lucas and the Conservatives' Tania Mathias.

Moreover, Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, the director of advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, said: "We have seen how Theresa May lashed Boris Johnson over his comments on Saudi. Nabeel Rajab criticized Saudi Arabia and Bahrain over their bombardment in Yemen and is facing prison for it."

"If May or her government fail to publicly call for his release, Bahrain will take it as a green light for their repression," he went on to say.

On the other hand, US State Department spokesman Mark Toner, had said in September that the government called for the immediate release of Rajab, but the UK has thus far refused to do likewise.

Amnesty International on a further note called the charges a "barefaced assault on freedom of expression", while Human Rights Watch's executive director, Ken Roth, named Rajab as one of two human rights activists currently imprisoned whom he thought most resembled "the next Nelson Mandela".

It is worth mentioning that the Bahrain's criminal court has postponed Rajab's trial until December 28, 2016, when he is expected to be sentenced.

Arabic Version