Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab was arrested 365 days ago for tweets against the war in Yemen, and his 13th hearing of his endless trial is tomorrow, writes Sophie Baggott.

It is exactly 365 days today: for a whole year Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab has been held in pre-trial detention in his country. After months in solitary confinement, he was hospitalized in April 2017, and his detention continues in the Ministry of Interior’s medical facility.

Rajab, president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR) and father of two, faces up to 18 years in prison simply for two separate trials: one for some tweets about the Saudi-led war in Yemen, the other simply for speaking to journalists – a trial which has been postponed eight times, the last one in May.

Rajab’s human rights work is internationally recognized. However, Bahraini authorities have incarcerated him repeatedly. In 2012, Rajab was sentenced to three years in prison for protest-related charges, and served two years of imprisonment after an appeal reduced the term. In 2014, comedian Stephen Colbert asked the executive director of Human Rights Watch, Ken Roth, who would be the next Nelson Mandela. Roth named Nabeel Rajab, alongside the Chinese dissident writer Liu Xiaobo.

The New York Times has published several letters written by Rajab from prison. In May, on the NYT’s front page, he reached out to the US in his latest piece:

‘For my part, I will not stand idly by. I urge Americans not to do so, either. They must all call for an end to the Trump administration’s unconditional support for my country’s misdeeds at home and abroad.’

Days later, President Trump met Bahrain’s King Hamad and told the royal that there ‘won’t be strain’ with his administration. Two days passed, then the Bahraini government launched their deadliest raid in years to repress a peaceful sit-in around the home of leading Shia cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim in Duraz village. In June 2016, the government decided to revoke the citizenship of Isa Qassim, and demonstrators have organized peaceful sit-ins in response. The authorities had already blockaded the village of Duraz. Police used excessive violence; security forces arrested 286 people and left five dead.

Since Rajab’s arrest on 13 June 2016, organizations worldwide have called for Bahrain to drop his charges. In May 2017, the UN’s top anti-torture experts said the state party should ‘release from detention’ Rajab and other individuals held in prison for human rights activism or journalism. The UN Committee Against Torture published concerns that Rajab’s reported nine months of solitary confinement and inadequate medical care may amount to torture.

Twelve months of police custody have seen a dramatic deterioration in Rajab’s health. In early April the 52-year-old human rights defender had to undergo surgery for bleeding ulcers. Despite medical advice that he should remain in hospital, Rajab was discharged back into police custody and had to be readmitted days later.

Across his year-long detention Rajab has undergone two operations, suffered two bouts of heart palpitations requiring emergency medical care, and developed depression as well as a low white blood cell count, reported Human Rights Watch. His wife Sumaya revealed her ‘extreme worries’ about his worsening health.

‘Nabeel never suffered heart problems before. My husband is a human rights defender and does not deserve this treatment’, she said.

Bahrain signed the UN Convention Against Torture in 1998, yet the UN Committee Against Torture described torture as ‘widespread’ in the country. In Rajab’s most recent NYT piece he spoke not only of the human rights violations inflicted on him, but also the suffering of Yemeni people:

‘I’m recovering from a painful surgical procedure, yet the authorities have made every part of my detention as difficult as possible. My lawyers have been obstructed from providing me the best possible defense. But what I have endured is a small fraction of what the people of Yemen have suffered, largely because of the military intervention of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and their allies.’

Rajab faces three years in prison for ‘speaking to journalists’, having confirmed to news outlets that Bahrain bars the entry of journalists and NGOs. Of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders, Bahrain ranks 164th. This month the country’s only independent newspaper, Al-Wasat, was suspended indefinitely, while Bahraini journalist Nazeeha Saeed faces a fine of up to €2,400 ($2,700). Saeed is accused of working as a foreign correspondent without authorisation, since the information ministry refused to renew her accreditation last year.

Besides this, Rajab may be sentenced to 15 years in prison for tweeting anti-war messages and exposing torture in Bahraini prisons. His charges include ‘spreading rumours in wartime’, ‘insulting a neighbouring country’ and ‘insulting a statutory body’.

Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy’s director of advocacy, Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, said, ‘Bahrain’s punishment of critics of torture would not happen without the green-light from its allies Washington and London. Nabeel Rajab must be freed if Bahrain is to respect its international obligations.’

‘As we mark a year since Nabeel's arrest, he has proven to be a voice that cannot be silenced nor broken. Every minute he spends in prison shames Bahrain's rulers and their western allies.’

Today, on the one-year anniversary of Rajab’s arrest, join human rights defenders across the globe in a campaign calling for his freedom through Facebook or Twitter.

Sophie Baggott is a freelance journalist and London bureau intern at Reporters Without Borders (Reporters Sans Frontières RSF).