More prominent human rights defenders have been interrogated, charged and banned from travel in Bahrain in violation of their rights to freedom of expression and assembly, according to reports received by the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR). The latest series of reprisals against human rights defenders comes at the same time as the United Kingdom’s Prince Charles visited Bahrain.   This past week, four staff of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) have been interrogated over their activities. Most recently, Hussain Radhi, a member of BCHR’s documentation team, was summoned to appear before the Public Prosecutor’s Office on 17 November 2016 in relation to a case against him by the Cyber Crime Directorate, which is a part of the Ministry of the Interior’s General Directorate of Anti-Corruption. He was charged with allegedly "inciting hatred against the regime and spreading false news threatening civil peace" because of his tweets and retweets about protests in Bahraini villages, suppression of protests by the authorities, arrests, the siege on Duraz village, and some tweets on the UN experts' statement about religious discrimination in Bahrain.   On 15 November 2016, Nedal Al-Salman, BCHR’s Head of International Relations and Women & Children's Rights Advocacy, was interrogated on charges of “illegal gathering” for allegedly participating in an assembly in Duraz on 11 August 2016. She denied being in Duraz on that day.   On 13 November 2016, Enas Oun, BCHR Head of Documentation, was summoned and accused by the Public Prosecution of organising an “illegal assembly” on 20 June 2016 in the Al-Dair area. Ahmad Al-Saffar, a member of BCHR, was also interrogated on 13 November by the Public Prosecution, which also charged him with “illegal assembly.” None of the BCHR staff were held in detention after being questioned.   On 16 November, human rights defender and nurse Ibrahim Al-Demistani, secretary general of the Bahrain Nursing Society, was also interrogated by the Public Prosecution and accused of taking part in an assembly on 11 August in Duraz. Al-Demistani denied taking part in this assembly in Duraz. He is currently under a travel ban.   The previous week, on 10 November 2016, the Public Prosecutor interrogated human rights lawyer Mohammed Al-Tajer on several charges alleged by the Cyber Crime Directorate in connection with a voice message and tweets he posted about dictatorship and the siege of Duraz. He was reportedly charged with insulting a sect based on Article 172 of the Penal Code, with misuse of the telephone based on Article 290, and, based on Article 216, with “insulting a statutory body,” namely the Public Prosecutor, the Interior Ministry and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).   On 10 November 2016, Abdulnabi Al-Ekry was also interrogated by the Public Prosecution. He is the Director General of the National Centre for Studies and previously served as the President of the Bahrain Transparency Society.   The BCHR staff, Al-Demistani, Al-Tajer, and Al-Ekry are among the dozens of human rights defenders and other members of civil society who have been prevented from leaving Bahrain and are under travel bans this year. Dozens of them were prevented from traveling to the United Nations Human Rights Council in June and September, among other destinations.   These arrests, charges and interrogations come after several months of violations of the right to freedom of expression and assembly which has seen all prominent human rights defenders interrogated, jailed or exiled, many for their tweets or media interviews. GCHR remains extremely concerned for the health of Nabeel Rajab, Founding Director of GCHR and President of the BCHR, who requires urgent treatment for various medical conditions while waiting for his next trial appearance on 15 December 2016.   Women’s rights defender, writer and blogger Ghada Jamsheer remains in jail in Bahrain serving a combined ten-month sentence for exercising her right to free expression on Twitter. Jamsheer, President of the Women's Petition Committee (WPC), was jailed for her tweets exposing corruption within the management of King Hamad Hospital, which is run by members of the ruling family. Jamsheer was detained on 15 August 2016 upon arrival from London where she was receiving medical treatment for arthritis and has appealed to a judge to free her so she can carry out her treatment. She remains in jail awaiting a decision by the judge following a hearing on 7 November 2016. GCHR calls on the government of Bahrain to: 

1. End all forms of reprisals against human rights defenders and other activists in violation of their rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of expression;
2. End the interrogations of BCHR staff and other human rights defenders, and lift their travel bans;
3. Immediately and unconditionally free Nabeel Rajab, Ghada Jamsheer and Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and overturn the charges against them; and
4. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Bahrain are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.