A Bahraini court has remanded prominent rights activist Nabeel Rajab in custody after the first hearing in his trial ended on charges of insulting officials.
On Sunday, the court adjourned the trial of Rajab, the director of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), until October 29.
He has been accused of posting tweets in which he said members of Bahraini security forces are fighting alongside terrorists in Syria.
Rajab was under the regime’s custody in Jaw prison in eastern Bahrain from July 9, 2012 until May this year.
The United Nations has condemned the Bahraini government for arresting Rajab.
“We urge Bahraini authorities to immediately release Nabeel Rajab and all other individuals detained for peaceful exercise of their rights,” said Rupert Colville, the spokesman for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), at a press conference in the Swiss city of Geneva on October 3.
The New York based Human Rights Watch (HRW) also called on Manama regime to release Rajab, saying that Bahrain wishes to “silence its critics” with such actions.
Since mid-February 2011, thousands of pro-democracy protesters have held numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa royal family to relinquish power.
On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on peaceful protesters.
According to local sources, scores of people have been killed.
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