Bahrain Mirror: The US State Department praised the release of human rights defender Nabeel Rajab under the Alternative Penalty Law and called "all states to adhere to human rights in freedom of expression and peaceful assembly."

In a tweet on its Arabic-language Twitter account, the US State Department said "the US praises the release of Bahraini human rights defender Nabeel Rajab from the prison under the Alternative Penalty Law."

"We call all states to adhere to the international human rights in freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, which are the stability pillars on the long term."

The Bahraini authorities released Nabeel Rajab on Tuesday (June 9, 2020).

A Bahraini court sentenced him on February 21, 2018 to 5 years in jail over posting tweets critical to war on Yemen.

Rajab played a key role in pro-democracy protests in 2011. He is one of the prominent Arab human rights defenders. He was the president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Founding Director of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights and Deputy Secretary General of the International Federation for Human Rights.

Arabic Version