Human rights defender and lawyer Mohamed Al-Tajir

Human rights lawyer Mohamed Al-Tajir who provides legal assistance to human rights defenders and political activists targeted during the ongoing security clampdown in Bahrain to speak in Dublin - Monday 27 August 2012

Mohamed Al-Tajir has himself been the subject of threats and intimidation and was at one point held in incommunicado detention without access to family or lawyers for 5 weeks.

Mohamed Al Tajir will talk about how the Bahraini Government uses vaguely worded security legislation to target those who criticise the regime and call for reform and human rights.

Where: The Oak Room, The Mansion House Kildare St, Dublin 2

Who: the event is co-organised by the Bahrain Rehabilitation and Anti-Violence Organisation (BRAVO), Ceartas- Irish Lawyers for Human Rights and Front Line Defenders.

When: Monday 27 August 2012 6.00pm

Background

In February 2011, the Arab Spring spread to Bahrain. After nearly four weeks of massive pro-democracy demonstrations, the authorities launched a violent crackdown on the protesters.

Along with over twenty other lawyers, Mohammed Al-Tajir worked to assist those held in incommunicado detention during the crackdown. On 15 April 2011, Al-Tajir was himself arrested in front of his wife and children by a group of more than twenty-masked men and plain-clothes police officers.

Ceartas - Irish Lawyers for Human Rights is an independent organisation that seeks to promote and protect human rights internationally through the innovative use of law.



The Bahrain Rehabilitation and Anti-Violence Organisation (BRAVO) is an anti-violence NGO that works with the aim of achieving compliance and adherence to human rights principles, values, and standards in Bahrain.


Front Line Defenders is a Dublin based international organisation working for the security and protection of human rights defenders at risk , people who work, non-violently, for any or all of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Gearóid Ó Cuinn, Co-director, Ceartas – Irish Lawyers for Human Rights, T: +353(0)860890819 - E: gocuinn@ceartaslaw.org

Jim Loughran, Front Line Defenders T +353 (0)87 9377586 E jim@frontlinedefenders.org