Bahrain: Arrest of Inter-Faith Activist and Head of IARF Member Group Maytham Al Salman
On Saturday 8th August 2015, Sheikh Maytham Al Salman, chairman of
the Bahrain Interfaith Centre, an Associate member group of the IARF, and Head of the Religious Freedom Unit in the Bahrain Human Rights Observatory (BHRO), was detained at Manama international airport, charged with “inciting hatred against the regime”. The Sheikh has been detained before. We wrote about this here.
Here you can read our introduction of the Bahrain Interfaith Centre.
Excerpts from article by Global Freedom of Expression, Columbia University (you can read the article here):
An internationally respected inter-faith leader, Sheikh Maytham Al Salman …
is well recognized for his work on building tolerant societies, and on countering incitement to violence and discrimination in accordance with international human rights standards…
Once detained, he was permitted to inform his family, by telephone, that he was being held at the Criminal Investigation Division, Economic Crimes Unit. However, in contravention of his human rights, he was denied access to a lawyer. Pending further legal procedures, Sheikh Maytham was released some 12 hours later.
Article 165 of the Bahrain prohibits “inciting others to develop hatred or hostility towards the system of government.” It is an offence punishable by imprisonment of up to three years. Such charges are most widely used against human rights activists and media workers involved in promoting human rights in Bahrain or in documenting cases of human rights abuse. …
Side Events at UN HRC 2014
Two events organised by IARF at the 25th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), March 2014
Side Event ‘Rise of Religious Intolerance’
Monday, 10 March 2014 – 2:00 to 4:00 PM
Room XXV, Palais des Nations, Geneva
UN HRC Side Event ‘Rise of Religious Intolerance’ – Flyer (PDF, 1 page)
Discussion on the rise of violence attributed to religious intolerance in various regions of the world where antipathy toward members of religious minorities is used to justify targeted hatred, assaults, restrictions and violent attacks on their religious institutions.
Held in conjunction with the Annual Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) – part of the Programme of Work of the 25th Session of the HRC; complements the Special Rapporteur’s presentation of his Annual Report, which this year is titled “Tackling manifestations of collective religious hatred“.
Report in Pakistan newspaper The News
Report in Pakistan magazine Business Standard
Video report
Thursday 13 March
Room XXI, Palais des Nations
In collaboration with the CoNGO Sub-committee on Freedom of Religion or Beliefs:
Open/Interactive Dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Beliefs
NGO Joint Oral Statement
As a practitioner of Human Rights Education in South Asia, IARF at the UN is member of the NGO Working Group on Human Rights Education & Learning within the structure of CoNGO (the Committee of NGOs).
At this session of the HRC, IARF facilitated a workshop which delivered the following Joint Oral Statement regarding the Third Phase of the World Programme for Human Rights Education (2015-2019):
2014 HRC25 – NGOJointOralStatement ITEM 3 – WPHRE P3