In a press briefing Friday morning State Department Spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that the State Department is “concerned” by the Government of Bahrain’s detention of Rajab.
QUESTION: Okay. My – and I have – the second of my three very brief ones: Your friends in Bahrain, while being a member of the coalition and everything, still have a lot – or seem to have a lot to – leave a lot to be desired on the human rights front that – although they did release or allowed the one activist to go, it now seems they’ve arrested a guy for a tweet. Do you have anything to say about that?
MS. PSAKI: Sure. We are concerned by the Government of Bahrain’s detention of human rights activist Nabeel Rajab, reportedly for tweets alleged to be “denigrating to a public institution.” We urge the Government of Bahrain to protect the universal rights of freedom of expression and assembly and to reconsider charges against citizens accused of peaceful expression of opinion. We also continue to call on the Government of Bahrain to abide by its commitment to fair and transparent judicial proceedings, and to resolve this case as expeditiously as possible.
QUESTION: Now, since they expelled your Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights, you all have said that you’re working to reschedule that meeting.
MS. PSAKI: Mm-hmm.
QUESTION: What’s the progress on that rescheduling?
MS. PSAKI: I talked to him about it this morning. We’re still working on rescheduling it, and he’s looking forward to heading there.
More on http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2014/10/232495.htm#BAHRAIN
