The rights group said in a statement that Abdul Hadi al-Khawaja, former head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, faces up to 10 years in prison after he criticised the Gulf Arab state’s government as an “oppressive regime” that should be removed by peaceful means.
“Speaking out harshly against a country’s ruler should not be a crime,” Joe Stork, a deputy director at Human Rights Watch, said in the statement, issued on Wednesday.
An official at Bahrain’s Ministry of Information declined to comment on the demand from Human Rights Watch or the trial against Khawaja.
Bahrain is ruled by the Sunni Muslim al-Khalifa family and has a majority Shi’ite Muslim population, many of whom complain of marginalisation in jobs and services, a charge government officials deny.
The trial has been adjourned twice, with the next hearing scheduled for April 15.
