NABEEL RAJAB: Global Week of Action – March 21-28

Dont Forget Nabeel Rajab

Dear friends,

Nabeel Rajab, the co-founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, a human rights defender, and a prominent figure in Bahrain’s pro-democracy struggle, remains in prison in Bahrain, serving a two-year sentence for calling for “illegal gatherings,” after already having served three months for tweeting a critical comment about the Bahraini regime.

Human rights activists in Bahrain and internationally are organizing a Global Week of Action for Nabeel from March 21-28. To help free Nabeel, we need you to join us in taking action!

Working in partnership with human rights organizations, the week will include peaceful rallies around the world calling for Nabeel’s release, advocacy, and a massive social media push, using videos, photos, Twitter, Facebook and the participation of prominent musicians and public figures to publicize Nabeel’s unjust imprisonment and the plight of prisoners of conscience in Bahrain.

We call on you to join in the Global Week of Action. By calling collectively for Nabeel’s release, and the release of all Bahraini prisoners of conscience, we are acting in support of the basic human rights of nonviolent assembly and freedom of speech.

For those around the world:

Demonstrations are already being organized in Washington DC on March 22 and in London, Cairo, Paris, and Kuwait, on March 23. Dublin is holding an Awareness Day for Nabeel Rajab. Click here for more information about actions in your city and see details below:

• Washington DC
  March 22, 1 p.m.
  Embassy of Kingdom of Bahrain, 3502 International Dr NW, Washington, DC 20008
  Co-sponsored by Code Pink and Witness Bahrain
  For more information, doolr
• London
  March 23, 2 p.m.
  In front of the Prime Minister’s office, Westminister, 10 Downing Street
• Egypt
  March 23
  Details TBD
• Paris
  March 23
  Details TBD
• Kuwait City
  Umbrella Kuwait Action
  Hunger Strike and seminar about Nabeel
  March 23, 7:30 p.m.
• Dublin
  March 23, 11 a.m. until late afternoon
  There will be an awareness stand in Dublin City Centre, handing out informational leaflets about Nabeel and a petition for people to sign.
  Twitter acc @ireland4nabeel and Face book page ireland F nabeel.

We encourage you to organize a demonstration or vigil in your hometown during the Global Week of Action. You can include Nabeel’s image by printing a photo of him. Register your action at jkazerooni@gmail.com so we can post it on the campaign website. Be sure to tweet photos and videos of your public action to @dont4getnabeelr and email them to jkazerooni@gmail.com.

Other ways to support the campaign:

• Tweet about Nabeel, using #Dont_forget_NabeelRajab to signify your support.
  Photograph one of these images of Nabeel with a lit candle next to it. Tweet your photograph to @dont4getnabeelr, and upload it to Instagram @dont4getnabeelrajab, email it to Nabeelrajeb@gmail.com, then set it as your social media profile picture with the campaign’s twitter ribbon.

• Sign the Avaaz petition urging the Bahraini government to release Nabeel
• Share the courage of Bahraini activists with your friends by posting Facebook, Google+ and Skype statuses in support of Nabeel.
• Be creative! If you participate in an action other than the ones recommended here, we’d love to hear about it. Write a poem, or a song, or create a piece of art in honor of Nabeel and in support of freedom! Tweet what you’re doing to stand behind Nabeel, human rights and civil liberties to @dont4getnabeelr, upload images to Instagram @dont4getnabeelrajab and email us at Nabeelrajeb@gmail.com
• FOR U.S. CITIZENS: Contact the offices of members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urging the committee to hold a hearing on Bahrain, with a focus on prisoners of conscience, and particularly Nabeel Rajab.

If you are from one of the states with a Senator on the Foreign Relations Committee, please call your Senator with the following request. If you do not have a Senator on the Foreign Relations Committee, please call the Chair of the Committee. (Committee members and phone numbers listed below)

Sample script for call to U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Members:

“Hello. My name is _____ from ______ and I am calling to urge the US administration to hold a hearing about Bahrain, with a focus on the prisoners of conscience being held by the Bahraini regime.

I am especially concerned about Nabeel Rajab, president and co-founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. Nabeel was arrested last year for practicing the fundamental human rights of freedom of speech and peaceful assembly and is serving a two year prison sentence. He has been kept in isolation from other political prisoners. The other co-founder of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, is also in prison, and went on hunger strike in February 2012 for 110 days, until he was force-fed by authorities.

I urge the Foreign Relations Committee to hold a hearing about these human rights abuses and to work for justice for all prisoners of conscience in Bahrain.”

U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Members

For those in Bahrain:

Please click HERE for a full schedule of actions in solidarity with Nabeel Rajab and all Bahraini prisoners of conscience.

For information about actions planned, please contact Jihan at jkazerooni@gmail.com.

Together, we can call out with Nabeel’s message of democracy and human rights for all Bahrainis. As Nabeel himself said, “I will not stop and I’m teaching people not to stop. If everybody will keep quiet after putting [the activists] in jail, then it’s a disaster. We should challenge that. We should be willing to pay the price for the struggle for the freedom that we fight for.”

Thank you for your support as together we build the global movement for Nabeel, Bahrain and human rights.

In solidarity and struggle,
Jihan Kazerooni
http://www.nabeelrajabsupporters.com

Background about the situation in Bahrain:

Popular protests demanding greater political freedom began in Bahrain in February, 2011 and have been characterized both by grave human rights abuses on the part of the government and by the courage of Bahraini pro-democracy and human rights activists who continue to stand up to an oppressive regime, despite facing arrest, torture, injury and death. A report released by an international commission of inquiry in November 2012 confirmed the Bahraini government’s use of torture, as well as other forms of physical and psychological abuse, on detainees.

For more on Nabeel Rajab
For more on pro-democracy protests in Bahrain
For more on the international commission of inquiry and the Bahraini regime’s use of torture
For more on American arms sales to Bahrain