URGENT ACTION
STATELESS MAN ARRESTED FOR POSTING ONLINE
Bahraini resident Ibrahim Karimihas been arrested in connection withmessages posted on Twitter. He says he wasforced to “confess” to charges. He has been stateless since 2012, when his nationality was arbitrarily revoked.
Plainclothes police arrested Ibrahim Karimion 26 September at 2.30pm, at his homein the village ofal-Dair. According to his family,the police officersdid not present an arrest warrant, searched his house and car, and took mobile phones that belonged to him and other members of his family, and a laser pointer. They then took him to the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) where he was interrogated, withouta lawyer, aboutmessages posted on a Twitter account that he said did not belong to him.The Public Prosecution stated that the owner of the account was charged with “inciting hatred against the regime”, “publicly insulting the King”,“misuse of social media”,and “illegal residency”. He is being held in Dry Dock Prison, northeast of the capital, Manama.
Ibrahim Karimi hastold his lawyer that he was kept in solitary confinement, deprived of sleep and forced to stand. He said that his interrogators at the CID insulted him and threatened that his son would be arrested if he did not confess to the charges against him. He then signed the “confession”. Hedenied all the charges when he was brought before the Public Prosecution on 29 September, with his lawyer present. The Public Prosecution ordered him to be detained for seven days, for further questioning.
Ibrahim Karimi lodged an appeal on 29 October 2014againstan order to deport him and nine others of a group of 31 people whose nationality was arbitrarily revoked in November 2012. The order effectively renders him stateless as he does not have another nationality. The next appeal hearing is on 18 October.
Please write immediately in English, Arabic or your own language:
Urging the authorities to drop all charges against Ibrahim Karimi that relate to his exercise of his right to freedom of expression;
Calling on them not to use any forced “confessions” in any proceedings against him;
Urging them to drop the charges related to the revocation of his nationality
PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 12 NOVEMBER 2015 TO:
UA Network Office AIUSA | 5 Pennsylvania Plaza, New York NY 10001
T. 212. 807. 8400 | E. | amnestyusa.org/uan
King
Shaikh Hamad bin ‘Issa Al Khalifa
Office of His Majesty the King
P.O. Box 555
Rifa’a Palace, al-Manama, Bahrain
Fax: +973 1766 4587 (keep trying)
Salutation: Your Majesty
Minister of Interior
Shaikh Rashid bin ‘Abdullah Al Khalifa
Ministry of Interior
P.O. Box 13, al-Manama, Bahrain
Fax: +973 1723 2661
Email:
Salutation: Your Excellency
And copies to:
Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs
Shaikh Khalid bin Ali bin Abdullah Al Khalifa
Ministry of Justice and Islamic Affairs
P.O. Box 450, al-Manama, Bahrain
Fax: +973 1753 1284
Email (via website):http://www.moj.gov.bh/en/default76a7.html?action=category&ID=159
Twitter: @Khaled_Bin_Ali
UA Network Office AIUSA | 5 Pennsylvania Plaza, New York NY 10001
T. 212. 807. 8400 | E. | amnestyusa.org/uan
Also send copies to:
H.E. Ambassador Shaikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Khalifa, Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain
3502 International Dr. NW, Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 362 2192 I Email:
Please let us know if you took action so that we can track our impact! EITHER send a short email to with “UA 215/15” in the subject line, and include in the body of the email the number of letters and/or emails you sent, OR fill out this short online form to let us know how you took action. Thank you for taking action! Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office if taking action after the appeals date.
URGENT ACTION
STATELESS MAN ARRESTED FOR POSTING ONLINE
ADditional Information
The Ministry of Interior announced on 7 November 2012 that it had ordered the revocation of the nationality of 31 Bahraini citizens because they had caused “damage to state security”, under Article 10 (Paragraph C) of the Bahrain Citizenship Law. The 31 included activists living abroad; a lawyer; a number of people active in politics within Bahrain; a number of Shi’a clerics; and others with no political or religious affiliations. Most of those living in Bahrain, including Ibrahim Karimi, do not have another nationality and were effectively rendered stateless. The 31 people were never officially notified of this decision, and learned about it from the media the day it was announced.
The government forced one of the 31, Shaikh Hussain al-Najati, to leave Bahrain on 23 April 2014.A lower court ordered thosewho still remainingin Bahrain and only have Bahraini nationality to be deported, on 28 October 2014.Their lawyers lodged an appeal the next day, and the deportation order has been halted until the court issues its verdict.
The Ministry of Interior has arbitrarily revoked the nationality of hundreds of people since 2012. In a statement issued on 31 January 2015 the Ministry of Interior said it had withdrawn the Bahraini nationality of 72 people involved in “illegal acts”. The 72 included former MPs, doctors, human rights activists and political opponents who have been forced to live abroad because of their anti-government activities which would put them at risk of arbitrary detention, torture or other ill-treatment. One of them, Farahat Khursheed Afrah Khursheed, was denied entry at Bahrain InternationalAirport on 5 February 2015 and forced to leave the country. That day, two other members of the group, cleric Muhamad Hassan Ali Hussain Khojasat and engineer Masaud Jahromi, were told to hand in their passports and ID cards at the Immigration Office and to sign documents confirming that they needed to regularize their legal status as they were now considered foreigners. If they did not regularize their legal status they would be forced to leave the country.The list of 72 Bahraini citizensalso included a number of people the government accused of fighting for the armed group calling itself the Islamic State.
Under the Bahrain Citizenship Law and its amendments, Article 10 stipulates that nationality can be revoked (Paragraph A) if a person engages in the military service of a foreign country; (Paragraph B) if he helps or engages in the service of an enemy country; or (Paragraph C) if he causes harm to state security. There is no further definition or detail of what could amount to “harm to state security”. This Paragraph – used to revoke the nationality of the 31 – is therefore framed too broadly, allowing for its use to punish the legitimate and peaceful exercise of the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly.
Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states that everyone has the right to a nationality (Paragraph 1). Paragraph 2 further specifies that no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality. The requirement of due process and non-arbitrariness is also enshrined in the Bahraini Constitution, of which Article 17 (a) states that the “Bahraini nationality shall be determined by law. A person inherently enjoying his Bahraini nationality cannot be stripped of his nationality except in case of treason and such other cases as prescribed by law”. Revocation of nationality resulting in statelessness would not be compatible with the right to nationality articulated in Article 15(1) of the UDHR. Article 7(6) of the 1961 Convention on the reduction of statelessness also prohibits, with very few specific exceptions, any loss of nationality which results in statelessness. The obligation to avoid statelessness has been recognized as a norm of customary international law. Discriminatory revocation of nationality is specifically prohibited by Article 5 D (iii) of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, to which Bahrain is a state party. Similarly, UN Human Rights Council Resolution 20/5 from July 2012 calls upon all States “to refrain from taking discriminatory measures and from enacting or maintaining legislation that would arbitrarily deprive persons of their nationality on grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, especially if such measures and legislation render a person stateless”.
Name: Ibrahim Karimi
Gender m/f: m
UA Network Office AIUSA | 5 Pennsylvania Plaza, New York NY 10001
T. 212. 807. 8400 | E. | amnestyusa.org/uan
UA: 215/15 Index: MDE 11/2566/2015Issue Date: 1 October 2015
UA Network Office AIUSA | 5 Pennsylvania Plaza, New York NY 10001
T. 212. 807. 8400 | E. | amnestyusa.org/uan