Bahrain activist Nabeel Rajab’s trial postponed

A Bahrain court yesterday deferred the trial of blogger Nabeel Rajab again, according to his Twitter account.

#Bahrain: Court today postponed @NabeelRajab's trial to 16 April on the media case, will remain detained

Background https://t.co/Gdy6VzJlLZ pic.twitter.com/ov6n1WEenp

— Nabeel Rajab (@NABEELRAJAB) March 7, 2017

Rajab was granted his right to a trial in January, seven months after his arrest, but has had his trials suspended four times since then. It is now scheduled for 16 April.

The blogger has been a poster-case in the international community to highlight the plight of dissents in Bahrain. Millions worldwide have been following in solidarity and have been calling for his release.

Saw this poster of #Bahrain HRD @NABEELRAJAB today in #Hungary pic.twitter.com/tzHSpdBOSF

— Brian Dooley (@dooley_dooley) March 7, 2017

.@NABEELRAJAB's detention & delayed trial is cruel & unusual punishment. #Bahrain #ReleaseNabeel https://t.co/SeGAaHRLA8 @FreedomFYemen pic.twitter.com/Q33do7kwu0

— IFEX (@IFEX) March 7, 2017

Rajab was arrested at a time in which dissent in Bahrain was least tolerated, after Bahrainis took to the streets to protest for wider reforms in the kingdom. The Bahraini government immediately dismissed the protestors as pro-Iran proxies, inciting instability within the country and launched a crackdown on all forms of dissent.

Rajab was arrested in June after he published tweets suggesting security forces had tortured detainees in a Bahraini prison and criticising the Saudi-led coalition’s intervention in Yemen. He was charged for producing “false news and statements and malicious rumours that undermine the prestige of the kingdom.”