Interior Ministry of the Kingdom of Bahrain: Desist from harassment of religious freedom activists
Sheikh Maytham Al Salman, Head of the Religious Freedom Unit in the Bahrain Human Rights Observatory (BHRO), and Chairman of the Bahrain Interfaith Centre, an Associate member group of the IARF, was interrogated by police on Thursday 5th December 2013 for “inciting hatred of the regime”; “insulting a governmental body”; and “calling for an unauthorized assembly”.
Such harassments are intended to intimidate human rights defenders and activists, and discourage them from pursuing their work.
By petitioning the relevant ministry of the Kingdom of Bahrain, we can pressure its officials to abide by the declared intentions of the Kingdom (in its 2012 statement to the United Nations' Universal Periodic Review, UPR), that the state is reforming its attitude to human rights, and liberalising its treatment of faith groups in line with international principles on freedom of religion.