Rajab (Arabic: رجب) is the seventh month of the Islamic calendar. The lexical definition of Rajaba is "to respect", of which Rajab is a derivative.

This month is regarded as one of the four sacred months in Islam in which battles are prohibited. The pre-Islamic Arabs also considered warfare blasphemous during the four months.

Rajab Is also regarded as the month in which ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib The first Shia Imam and Fourth Caliph of Islam was born in vicinity of the Kaaba, the most sacred place of worship of Muslims.

The month is also a prelude to the month of Ramadan, which follows after the intervening month of Sha'ban. Therefore, when Prophet Muhammad sighted the moon of Rajab, he used to pray to Allah in the following words:

اللّهمّ بارك لنا في رجب و شعبان وبلّعنا رمضان

Allahumma baa-rik-lanaa fee-rajaba wa sha'bana wa bal-lig-naa ramadana

"O Allah, make the months of Rajab and Sha'ban blessed for us, and let us reach the month of Ramadan (i.e. prolong our life up to Ramadan, so that we may benefit from its merits and blessings)."

Timing[link]

The Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, and months begin when the first crescent of a new moon is sighted. Since the Islamic lunar calendar year is 11 to 12 days shorter than the solar year, Rajab migrates throughout the seasons. The estimated start and end dates for Rajab are as follows (based on the Umm al-Qura calendar of Saudi Arabia^[1]):

Islamic Events[link]

• 01 Rajab, birth of Shī‘ah Imām, Muhammad al-Bāqir
• 03 Rajab, death of Twelver Imām, ‘Alī al-Naqī
• 05 Rajab, birth of Twelver Imām, ‘Alī al-Naqī
• 06 Rajab, some Sufis of Chishti Order celebrate the anniversary of Khawaja Moinuddin Chishti
• 07 Rajab, Twelvers observe the Festival of Imam Musa al-Kazim in dedication of Musā' al-Kādhim.
• 09 Rajab, birth of ‘Alī al-Asghar
• 10 Rajab, birth of Twelver Imām, Muhammad al-Taqī
• 13 Rajab, birth of ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib
• 18 Rajab, death of Abraham (In accordance with Shi'a Islam)
• 20 Rajab, birth of Janabe Sakina bint Hussain
• 22 Rajab, Koonday (table cloth dinner) is organized by Shia and Sunni (Not all, as it is controversial) among Muslims of South Asia. It is an occasion for Muslims to discuss Allah and the Ahlul Bayt and to strengthen ties among the community with love and compassion. It is reported to be a practice instructed by 6th Imam, Ja‘far as-Sādiq. It is purported to be the day Mu'āwiyah died;.
• 24 Rajab, victory to Muslims in the Battle of Khaybar
• 25 Rajab, death of Twelver Imām, Musā' al-Kādhim
• 27 Rajab, some Sufi Muslims, along with Shī‘ah Muslims observe the Mi'raj (the day Muhammad (SAW) is believed to have ascended to heaven). It is a national holiday in some Muslim countries.
• 28 Rajab, Husayn ibn ‘Alī started his journey to Karbalā from Medina.
• 28 Rajab 1342 A.H. (3 March 1924), the Ottoman Caliphate was abolished by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
• In the year 5 A.H Bilal ibn Harith is reported to have brought a congregation of four hundred men named Banu Muzeena in the presence of Muhammad. They all embraced Islam.
• The Battle of Tabouk took place in Rajab, 9 A.H. (October 630)
• The second Oath of Aqabah took place in Rajab, 12 A.H. (September 633)
• Jerusalem was captured by Saladin in the month of Rajab, 583 A.H. (September/October 1187)
• Nakba Day on 6 Rajab 1367 A.H. (15 May 1948)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Islamic-Western Calendar Converter (Based on the Arithmetical or Tabular Calendar)
• Islamic Calendar / Hijri Calendar for Makkah
• Conversion of Islamic and Christian dates (Dual)
• Monthly Profiles of the Islamic Calendar(Copyright)
• The Night Journey: The Spiritual Significance of Isra and Mi`raj

Julian Assange
Assange in Copenhagen
Born	(1971-07-03) 3 July 1971 (age 40)[1][2][3] Townsville, Queensland, Australia
Occupation	Editor-in-chief and spokesperson for WikiLeaks, talk show host
Awards	Economist Freedom of Expression Award (2008) Amnesty International UK Media Award (2009) Sam Adams Award (2010) Le Monde Person of the Year (2010) Sydney Peace Foundation gold medal (2011) Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism (2011) Voltaire Award of the Victorian Council for Civil Liberties (2011) Walkleys Award for Outstanding Contribution to Journalism (2011)

Julian Paul Assange ( /əˈsɒnʒ/ ə-SONZH; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian computer programmer, political/internet activist, publisher, and^[4][5] journalist.^[6][7][8] He is best known as the editor in chief and founder of WikiLeaks, a media website which publishes information from whistleblowers. The site acts as a conduit for worldwide news leaks, with a stated purpose of creating open governance.

WikiLeaks has published material about extrajudicial killings in Kenya, toxic waste dumping in Côte d'Ivoire, Church of Scientology manuals, Guantanamo Bay procedures, and banks such as Kaupthing and Julius Baer.^[9] In 2010, WikiLeaks published Iraq War documents and Afghan War documents about American involvement in the wars, some of which was classified material. On 28 November 2010, WikiLeaks and its five international print media partners (Der Spiegel, The New York Times, Le Monde, The Guardian and El País) began publishing U.S. diplomatic cables.^[10]

Assange was a hacker-activist in his youth, before becoming a computer programmer and then becoming internationally renowned for his work with WikiLeaks.^[11] He has lived in several countries and has made public appearances in many parts of the world to speak about freedom of the press, censorship, and investigative journalism. He has received numerous awards and nominations, including the 2009 Amnesty International Media Award, Readers' Choice for TIME magazine's 2010 Person of the Year, the 2011 Sydney Peace Foundation gold medal and the 2011 Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism.^[12] Snorre Valen, a Norwegian parliamentarian, nominated him for the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize.^[13]

Early life[link]

Assange was born in Townsville, Queensland.^[14][15] When Julian was one year old, his mother Christine married theatre director Brett Assange, "who gave him his surname".^[2][16][17] In 1976, the family moved to Magnetic Island where Christine had previously resided. They lived in Horseshoe Bay, in an old abandoned pineapple farm".^[18] Later Assange and his mother lived in a cottage at Picnic Bay. Assange gave information about his background in an interview for Making Trouble: Essays Against the New Australian Complacency: "according to Assange, his mother", Christine Ann Assange (née Hawkins)^[14] "was the daughter of Scottish-born principal of Northern Rivers College (Southern Cross University), Warren Hawkins", and Norma Hawkins (née Carelton), who "was a specialist in medieval literature".^{[19][20][21][22]} Norma Hawkins, Assange's maternal grandmother, is mentioned in the book Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier (1997).^[23] Assange has reportedly claimed himself that he is of Scottish, Irish, Taiwanese, Torres Strait Islander and French ancestry: he has said that "his maternal ancestors came to Australia in the mid-nineteenth century from Scotland and Ireland"; he has also said: "my mother is French", referring to her ancestry. Referring to his paternal grandfather: "my grandfather was a Taiwanese pirate".."who settled on Thursday Island where he met and married a Thursday Islander woman". He has also said that Brett Assange "was the descendant of a Chinese immigrant who had settled on Thursday Island", "his great-great-great-grandfather was a Taiwanese pirate". The name Assange is an anglicization of "Ah Sang" – Cantonese for "Mr Sang".^{[24][25][26][27]}

In the interview for Making Trouble, he tells about who he believes is his "biological father": "he did not meet his biological father, John Shipton, until he was 25", Manne writes; "strangely and perhaps revealingly, it [WikiLeaks] was registered under the names of two fathers, his biological one, John Shipton, and his cypherpunk political one, John Young, a New York architect who ran the intelligence leak website Cryptome, which could be seen as WikiLeaks' predecessor".^{[19][28][29][30]} John Shipton is also referred to as an "architect", and an "Australian citizen living in Kenya", who resided in Nairobi, Kenya in 2008 at the same time as Julian.^[31][32][33] He "met Assange's mother, Christine, then aged 17, at an antiques shop on his way to a Vietnam war demonstration".."little is known about the relationship, except that it had ended by the time of their son's first birthday – if not earlier"; Shipton "never took up residence or if he did only took up residence for a very short time" and "had no contact with [Assange]".^[34]

Youth[link]

During Assange's upbringing Brett and Christine Assange ran a touring theatre company. His stepfather, Julian's first "real dad", described Julian as "a very sharp kid" with "a keen sense of right and wrong". "He always stood up for the underdog ... he was always very angry about people ganging up on other people."^[17] In the mid-70's, Assange and his parents moved to North Lismore, New South Wales, and Assange attended Goolmangar Primary School in the nearby town of Goolmangar from 1979 to 1983.^[35]

In 1979, his mother remarried "Leif Meynall — or Leif Hamilton";^[36] her new husband was a musician whom Assange believed belonged to a New Age group called The Family, led by Yoga teacher Anne Hamilton-Byrne. The couple had a son, but broke up in 1982 and engaged in a custody struggle for Assange's half-brother. His divorced mother fled her boyfriend and travelled across Australia, taking both children into hiding for the next five years. Assange moved thirty times before he turned 14, attending many schools, including Goolmangar Primary School, sometimes being home-schooled.^[2][37][38] In an interview conducted by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Assange stated that he had lived in 50 different towns and attended 37 different schools.^[39] The family "by the time he was 16 or 17" lived in "a tiny cement bungalow in the foothills of the Dandenong Ranges, east of Melbourne", Victoria, first in the town of "Emerald and then Tecoma", now in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne.^[40][41]

Hacking and conviction[link]

In 1987, after turning 16, Assange began hacking under the name "Mendax" (derived from a phrase of Horace: "splendide mendax", or "nobly untruthful").^[2] He and two other hackers joined to form a group they named the International Subversives. Assange wrote down the early rules of the subculture: "Don't damage computer systems you break into (including crashing them); don't change the information in those systems (except for altering logs to cover your tracks); and share information".^[2] The Personal Democracy Forum said he was "Australia's most famous ethical computer hacker."^[42] The Australian Federal Police became aware of this group and set up "Operation Weather" to investigate their hacking. In September 1991, Mendax was discovered in the act of hacking into the Melbourne master terminal of Nortel, the Canadian telecommunications company.^[2] In response the Australian Federal Police tapped Assanges' phoneline and subsequently raided his Melbourne home in 1991.^[43] He was also reported to have accessed computers belonging to an Australian university,^[2] the USAF 7th Command Group in the Pentagon^[44] and other organisations, via modem.^[45] It took three years to bring the case to court, where he was charged with 31 counts of hacking and related crimes. Nortel said his incursions cost them more than $100,000. Assange's lawyers represented his hacking as a victimless crime. He pleaded guilty to 25 charges of hacking, after six charges were dropped, and was released on bond for good conduct with a fine of A$2,100.^[2][46] The judge said "there is just no evidence that there was anything other than sort of intelligent inquisitiveness and the pleasure of being able to—what's the expression—surf through these various computers"^[2] and stated that Assange would have gone to jail for up to 10 years if he had not had such a disrupted childhood.^[44]

In 2011, court records revealed that in 1993, Assange helped the Victoria Police Child Exploitation Unit by providing technical advice and assisted in prosecuting persons.^[47]

Child custody issues[link]

In 1988–1989, Assange married, then moved out and started living with his wife, Teresa, after they had a son, Daniel Assange.^[19][48] They split up before the period of Assange's arrest and conviction. They subsequently engaged in a lengthy custody struggle and did not agree on a custody arrangement until 1999.^[2][49]

The entire process prompted Assange and his mother to form Parent Inquiry Into Child Protection, an activist group centered on creating a "central databank" for otherwise inaccessible legal records related to child custody issues in Australia.^[49] In an interview with ABC Radio, his mother explained their "most important" issue was demanding "that there be direct access to the children's court by any member of the public for an application for protection for any child that they believe is at serious risk from abuse, where the child protection agency has rejected that notification."^[50]

Computer programming and other employment[link]

In 1993, Assange was involved in starting one of the first public internet service providers in Australia, Suburbia Public Access Network.^[4][51][52] Starting in 1994, he lived in Melbourne as a programmer and a developer of free software.^[46] In 1995, he wrote Strobe, the first free and open source port scanner.^[53][54] He contributed several patches to the PostgreSQL project in 1996.^[55][56] He helped to write the book Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier (1997), which credits him as a researcher and reports his history with International Subversives.^[23][57] Starting around 1997, he co-invented the Rubberhose deniable encryption system, a cryptographic concept made into a software package for Linux designed to provide plausible deniability against rubber-hose cryptanalysis;^[58] he originally intended the system to be used "as a tool for human rights workers who needed to protect sensitive data in the field."^[59] Other free software that he has authored or co-authored includes the Usenet caching software NNTPCache^[60] and Surfraw, a command-line interface for web-based search engines. In 1998, "Assange co-founded his first and only Australian company, Earthmen Technology".^[18] Assange was characterised as a "cryptographer" in a Suelette Dreyfus article published in The Independent, 15 November 1999 – "This is just between us (and the spies)", and was said to have been the moderator of "the online Australian discussion forum AUCRYPTO", and during this time Assange claimed to have found a new patent relating to the US National Security Agency's technology for monitoring calls, "while investigating NSA capabilities". Assange said that "this patent should worry people. Everyone's overseas phone calls are or may soon be tapped, transcribed and archived in the bowels of an unaccountable foreign spy agency".^[61] In 1999, he registered the domain leaks.org, but he says he "didn't do anything with it."^[62]

University studies[link]

From 2002 to 2005, Assange attended the University of Melbourne and University of Canberra as an undergraduate student, he started a Bachelors of Science degree, studying physics, pure mathematics, and briefly philosophy and neuroscience.^{[37][42][63][64]} In most of his maths courses, he received the minimum "pass" grade.^[65] He did not graduate; the fact that his fellow students were doing research for Pentagon's DARPA was reportedly a factor in motivating him to drop out and start WikiLeaks.^[2][37][64]

Career as head of WikiLeaks[link]

Assange, in or before 2006

WikiLeaks was founded in 2006.^[2][66] That year, Assange wrote two essays setting out the philosophy behind WikiLeaks: "To radically shift regime behaviour we must think clearly and boldly for if we have learned anything, it is that regimes do not want to be changed. We must think beyond those who have gone before us and discover technological changes that embolden us with ways to act in which our forebears could not."^[67][68][69] In his blog he wrote, "the more secretive or unjust an organization is, the more leaks induce fear and paranoia in its leadership and planning coterie.... Since unjust systems, by their nature, induce opponents, and in many places barely have the upper hand, mass leaking leaves them exquisitely vulnerable to those who seek to replace them with more open forms of governance."^[67][70]

Assange is the most prominent media spokesman on WikiLeaks' behalf. In June 2010, he was listed alongside several others as a member of the WikiLeaks advisory board.^[71][72] While newspapers have described him as a "director"^[73] or "founder"^[43] of WikiLeaks, Assange has said, "I don't call myself a founder";^[74] he does describe himself as the editor in chief of WikiLeaks,^[75] and has stated that he has the final decision in the process of vetting documents submitted to the site.^[76] Assange says that WikiLeaks has released more classified documents than the rest of the world press combined: "That's not something I say as a way of saying how successful we are – rather, that shows you the parlous state of the rest of the media. How is it that a team of five people has managed to release to the public more suppressed information, at that level, than the rest of the world press combined? It's disgraceful."^[66] He advocates a "transparent" and "scientific" approach to journalism, saying that "you can't publish a paper on physics without the full experimental data and results; that should be the standard in journalism."^[77][78] In 2006, CounterPunch called him "Australia's most infamous former computer hacker."^[79] The Age has called him "one of the most intriguing people in the world" and "internet's freedom fighter."^[62] Assange has called himself "extremely cynical".^[62] He has been described as being largely self-taught and widely read on science and mathematics,^[46] and as thriving on intellectual battle.^[80]

WikiLeaks has been involved in the publication of material documenting extrajudicial killings in Kenya, a report of toxic waste dumping on the coast of Côte d'Ivoire, Church of Scientology manuals, Guantanamo Bay procedures, the 12 July 2007 Baghdad airstrike video, and material involving large banks such as Kaupthing and Julius Baer among other documents.^[9] In 2008, Assange published an article entitled "The Hidden Curse of Thomas Paine", in which he wrote "What does it mean when only those facts about the world with economic powers behind them can be heard, when the truth lays naked before the world and no one will be the first to speak without payment or subsidy?"^[81]

Public appearances[link]

In addition to exercising great authority and editorial control within WikiLeaks, Assange acts as its public face. He has appeared at media conferences such as New Media Days '09 in Copenhagen,^[82] the 2010 Logan Symposium in Investigative Reporting at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism,^[83] and at hacker conferences, notably the 25th and 26th Chaos Communication Congress.^[84] In the first half of 2010, he appeared on Al Jazeera English, MSNBC, Democracy Now!, RT, and The Colbert Report to discuss the release of the Baghdad airstrike video by WikiLeaks. On 3 June he appeared via videoconferencing at the Personal Democracy Forum conference with Daniel Ellsberg.^[85][86] Ellsberg told MSNBC "the explanation he [Assange] used" for not appearing in person in the U.S. was that "it was not safe for him to come to this country."^[87] On 11 June he was to appear on a Showcase Panel at the Investigative Reporters and Editors conference in Las Vegas,^[88] but there are reports that he cancelled several days prior.^[89]

On 10 June 2010, it was reported that Pentagon officials were trying to determine his whereabouts.^[90][91] Based on this, there were reports that U.S. officials wanted to apprehend Assange.^[92] Ellsberg said that the arrest of Bradley Manning and subsequent speculation by U.S. officials about what Assange may be about to publish "puts his well-being, his physical life, in some danger now."^[87] In The Atlantic, Marc Ambinder called Ellsberg's concerns "ridiculous", and said that "Assange's tendency to believe that he is one step away from being thrown into a black hole hinders, and to some extent discredits, his work."^[93] In Salon.com, Glenn Greenwald questioned "screeching media reports" that there was a "manhunt" on Assange underway, arguing that they were only based on comments by "anonymous government officials" and might even serve a campaign by the U.S. government, by intimidating possible whistleblowers.

On 21 June 2010, he took part at a hearing in Brussels, Belgium, appearing in public for the first time in nearly a month.^[94] He was a member on a panel that discussed Internet censorship and expressed his worries over the recent filtering in countries such as Australia. He also talked about secret gag orders preventing newspapers from publishing information about specific subjects and even divulging the fact that they are being gagged. Using an example involving The Guardian, he also explained how newspapers are altering their online archives sometimes by removing entire articles.^[95][96] He told The Guardian that he does not fear for his safety but is on permanent alert and will avoid travel to America, saying "[U.S.] public statements have all been reasonable. But some statements made in private are a bit more questionable." He said "politically it would be a great error for them to act. I feel perfectly safe but I have been advised by my lawyers not to travel to the U.S. during this period."^[94]

On 17 July, Jacob Appelbaum spoke on behalf of WikiLeaks at the 2010 Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) conference in New York City, replacing Assange due to the presence of federal agents at the conference.^[97][98] He announced that the WikiLeaks submission system was again up and running, after it had been temporarily suspended.^[97][99] Assange was a surprise speaker at a TED conference on 19 July 2010, in Oxford, and confirmed that WikiLeaks was now accepting submissions again.^{[100][101][102]} On 26 July, after the release of the Afghan War Diary, he appeared at the Frontline Club for a press conference.^[103]

On 14 February 2011, Assange filed for the trademark "JULIAN ASSANGE" in Europe. The trademark is to be used for "public speaking services; news reporter services; journalism; publication of texts other than publicity texts; education services; entertainment services".^[104] On 15 March 2011, Assange gave a speech at the Cambridge Union Society.^[105][106] After initially discouraging recording, a video of this has been made available by the Society.^[107]

On 19 February 2012 the 500th episode of The Simpsons' "At Long Last Leave" was aired, which features Assange guest-starring as himself in a scene written by Australian author Kathy Lette, the wife of Assange's adviser Geoffrey Robertson QC.^[108][109]

Release of U.S. diplomatic cables[link]

On 28 November 2010, WikiLeaks began releasing some of the 251,000 American diplomatic cables in their possession, of which over 53 percent are listed as unclassified, 40 percent are "Confidential" and just over six percent are classified "Secret". The following day, the Attorney-General of Australia, Robert McClelland, told the press that Australia would inquire into Assange's activities and WikiLeaks.^[110] He said that "from Australia's point of view, we think there are potentially a number of criminal laws that could have been breached by the release of this information. The Australian Federal Police are looking at that".^[111] McClelland would not rule out the possibility that Australian authorities will cancel Assange's passport, and warned him that he might face charges should he return to Australia.^[112] The Federal Police inquiry found that Assange had not committed any crime.^[113]

The United States Department of Justice launched a criminal investigation related to the leak. U.S. prosecutors are reportedly considering charges against Assange under several laws, but any prosecution would be difficult.^[114] In relation to its ongoing investigations of WikiLeaks, on 14 December 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a subpoena ordering Twitter to release information relating to Assange's account, amongst others.^[115][116]

Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg said that Assange "is serving our democracy and serving our rule of law precisely by challenging the secrecy regulations, which are not laws in most cases, in this country." On the issue of national security considerations for the U.S., Ellsberg added, "He's obviously a very competent guy in many ways. I think his instincts are that most of this material deserves to be out. We are arguing over a very small fragment that doesn't. He has not yet put out anything that hurt anybody's national security."^[117] Assange told London reporters that the leaked cables showed U.S. ambassadors around the world were ordered "to engage in espionage behaviour", which he said seemed to be "representative of a gradual shift to a lack of rule of law in U.S. institutions that needs to be exposed and that we have been exposing."^[118]

The WikiLeaks diplomatic cable revelations have been credited by some commentators with being a factor in sparking the Tunisian Revolution, as such leaked cables revealed the degree of corruption in the then ruling government. Writing for Foreign Policy magazine, journalist Elizabeth Dickinson suggested that "Tunisians didn't need any more reasons to protest when they took to the streets these past weeks – food prices were rising, corruption was rampant, and unemployment was staggering. But we might also count Tunisia as the first time that WikiLeaks pushed people over the brink..."^[119][120]

Recognition as a journalist[link]

Assange received the 2009 Media award from Amnesty International for Kenya: The Cry of Blood – Extra Judicial Killings and Disappearances,^[8] and he has been recognized as a journalist by the Centre for Investigative Journalism.^[7] Assange has been a member of the Australian journalist union, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, for several years, and in 2011, was made an honorary member.^[121][122] Alex Massie wrote an article in The Spectator called "Yes, Julian Assange is a journalist", but acknowledged that "newsman" might be a better description of Assange.^[6] Alan Dershowitz said "Without a doubt. He is a journalist, a new kind of journalist".^[123] Assange has said that he has been publishing factual material since age 25, and that it is not necessary to debate whether or not he is a journalist. He has stated that his role is "primarily that of a publisher and editor-in-chief who organises and directs other journalists".^[124]

Financial developments[link]

On 6 December 2010, the Swiss bank, PostFinance, announced that it had frozen assets of Assange's totalling 31,000 euros, because he had "provided false information regarding his place of residence" when opening the account.^[125] MasterCard,^[126] Visa Inc.,^[127] and Bank of America^[128] also halted dealings with WikiLeaks. Assange described these actions as "business McCarthyism".^[129] The English-language Swedish newspaper web-site "Local" quoted Assange on 27 December 2010, as saying that legal costs for the whistleblowing website and his own defence had reached £500,000. The decisions to halt donations to WikiLeaks by Visa, MasterCard and PayPal had cost £425,000, the same amount it costs the website to publish for six months. Assange said WikiLeaks had been receiving as much as £85,000 a day at its peak, before the financial blockade^[130]

"Autobiography"[link]

In December 2010, Assange sold the publishing rights^[131] to his proposed autobiography for over £1 million. He told The Sunday Times that he was forced to enter the deals for an autobiography due to the financial difficulties he and the site encountered, stating "I don't want to write this book, but I have to. I have already spent £200,000 for legal costs and I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat."^[132]

A draft of this work was published, without Assange's consent, in September 2011. The book was ghostwritten by Andrew O'Hagan and was given the title Julian Assange – The Unauthorised Autobiography (2011). Assange and the publisher, Canongate, gave differing accounts of the circumstances around the publication.^[133][134]

The World Tomorrow[link]

In January 2012, WikiLeaks announced that Assange would launch "a series of in-depth conversations with key political players, thinkers and revolutionaries from around the world", titled The World Tomorrow.^[135] The first of twelve completed interview programs was broadcast by the RT network on 17 April with other networks expected to follow. The series will be broadcast on a weekly basis, and the 26-minute episodes will also be made available online.^[136][137] The show's first guest was Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.^[138][139]

Commentary[link]

Comments by the Australian government[link]

The publication of Australian government briefings after a Senate request showed the government had privately discussed charging Assange with treason, which they never mentioned publicly.^[140] Julia Gillard stated that Assange's actions were "illegal", which was later retracted when a Australian Federal Police commission determined he had not broken any Australian laws. They also found no grounds to withdraw his Australian passport after an investigation by the Australian Federal Police. Since then, government representatives and the major opposition, including Craig Emerson the Minister for Trade and Helen Coonan the former minister for Communications, have made statements supportive of WikiLeaks and deprecated some threats. Emerson stated on ABC's Q&A program; "We condemn absolutely the threats that have been made by some people in the United States against Julian Assange and he deserves all of the rights of being an Australian citizen."^[141]

Support from Australians[link]

Demonstration in support of Assange in front of Sydney Town Hall, 10 December 2010.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has come under widespread condemnation and a backlash within her own party for failing to support Assange after calling the leaks "an illegal act" and suggesting that his Australian passport should be cancelled. Hundreds of lawyers, academics and journalists came forward in his support with Attorney-General Robert McClelland, unable to explain how Assange had broken Australian law. Opposition Legal Affairs spokesman, Senator George Brandis, a Queen's Counsel, accused Gillard of being "clumsy" with her language, stating, "As far as I can see, he (Assange) hasn't broken any Australian law, nor does it appear he has broken any American laws." Former Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, who supports Assange, stated that any decision to cancel the passport would be his, not Gillard's. Queen's Counsel Peter Faris, who acted for Assange in a hacking case 15 years ago, said that the motives of Swedish authorities in seeking Assange's extradition for alleged sex offences are suspect: "You have to say: why are they [Sweden] pursuing it? It's pretty obvious that if it was Bill Bloggs, they wouldn't be going to the trouble." Following the Swedish Embassy issuing of a "prepared and unconvincing reply" in response to letters of protest, Gillard was called on to send a message to Sweden "querying the way charges were laid, investigated and dropped, only to be picked up again by a different prosecutor."^{[142][143][144][145][146]}

On 10 December 2010, over five hundred people rallied outside Sydney Town Hall and about three hundred and fifty people gathered in Brisbane^[147] where Assange's lawyer, Rob Stary, criticised Julia Gillard's position, telling the rally that the Australian government was a "sycophant" of the U.S. A petition circulated by GetUp!, who have placed full page ads in support of Assange in The New York Times and The Washington Times, received more than 50,000 signatures.^[145]

Detraction by U.S. officials[link]

The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (September 2011)

Current and former U.S. government officials, have accused Assange of terrorism. When asked if he saw Assange more as a high-tech terrorist or as a whistleblower, like those who released the Pentagon papers in the 1970s, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said: "I would argue it is closer to being a high-tech terrorist than the Pentagon papers."^[148] In May 2010, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had used the phrase, calling Assange "a high-tech terrorist", and saying "he has done enormous damage to our country. I think he needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law".^[149] Also in May 2010, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said: "Information terrorism, which leads to people getting killed, is terrorism, and Julian Assange is engaged in terrorism. He should be treated as an enemy combatant."^[150]

In July 2010, after WikiLeaks released classified documents related to the war in Afghanistan, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen, said at a Pentagon news conference, "Disagree with the war all you want, take issue with the policy, challenge me or our ground commanders on the decisions we make to accomplish the mission we've been given, but don't put those who willingly go into harm's way even further in harm's way just to satisfy your need to make a point. Mr. Assange can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing, but the truth is, they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family." Assange responded later in an interview by saying, "There is, as far as we can tell, no incident of that. So it is a speculative charge. Of course, we are treating any possible revelation of the names of innocents seriously. That is why we held back 15,000 of these documents, to review that". Assange also pointed out the irony of U.S. officials and military leaders accusing him of having blood on his hands.^[151]

Support in U.S.[link]

Daniel Ellsberg, who was working in the U.S. Department of Defense when he leaked the Pentagon Papers in 1971, was a signatory to a statement by an international group of former intelligence officers and ex-government officials in support of Assange's work, which was released in late December 2010. Other signatories included David MacMichael, Ray McGovern, and five recipients of annual Sam Adams Award: Frank Grevil, Katharine Gun, Craig Murray, Coleen Rowley and Larry Wilkerson.^[152] Ellsberg has said, "If I released the Pentagon Papers today, the same rhetoric and the same calls would be made about me ... I would be called not only a traitor – which I was [called] then, which was false and slanderous – but I would be called a terrorist... Assange and Bradley Manning are no more terrorists than I am."^[153]

Support from other governments and U.N.[link]

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, then president of Brazil, expressed his "solidarity" with Assange following his 2010 arrest in the United Kingdom.^[154][155] He further criticised the arrest of Assange as "an attack on freedom of expression".^[156]

Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister of Russia, condemned Assange's detention as "undemocratic".^[142] A source within the office of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev suggested that Assange be nominated for a Nobel Prize, and said that "Public and non-governmental organisations should think of how to help him."^[157]

In December 2010, the United Nations' Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Frank LaRue, said Assange or other WikiLeaks staff should not face criminal charges for any information they disseminated, noting that "if there is a responsibility by leaking information it is of, exclusively of the person that made the leak and not of the media that publish it. And this is the way that transparency works and that corruption has been confronted in many cases."^[158]

Awards[link]

He won the 2009 Amnesty International UK Media Award (New Media),^[159] for exposing extrajudicial assassinations in Kenya by distributing and publicizing the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR)'s investigation The Cry of Blood – Extra Judicial Killings and Disappearances.^[160][161] Accepting the award, Assange said, "It is a reflection of the courage and strength of Kenyan civil society that this injustice was documented."^[162]

In 2010, Assange was awarded the Sam Adams Award,^[163][164] Readers' Choice in TIME magazine's Person of the Year poll,^[12] and runner-up for Person of the Year.^[165] In April 2011 he was listed on the Time 100 list of most influential people.^[166] An informal poll of editors at Postmedia Network named him the top newsmaker for the year after six out of 10 felt Assange had "affected profoundly how information is seen and delivered".^[167]

Le Monde, one of the five publications to cooperate with WikiLeaks' publication of the recent document leaks, named him person of the year with fifty six percent of the votes in their online poll.^{[168][169][170]}

In February 2011, it was announced that Assange had been awarded the Sydney Peace Foundation gold medal by the Sydney Peace Foundation of the University of Sydney for his "exceptional courage and initiative in pursuit of human rights."^[171] There have been four recipients of the award in the foundation's fourteen year history: Nelson Mandela; the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso; Daisaku Ikeda; and Assange.^[171]

In June 2011, Assange was awarded the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism. The prize is awarded on an annual basis to journalists "whose work has penetrated the established version of events and told an unpalatable truth that exposes establishment propaganda, or 'official drivel'". The judges said, "WikiLeaks has been portrayed as a phenomenon of the hi-tech age, which it is. But it's much more. Its goal of justice through transparency is in the oldest and finest tradition of journalism."^[172]

Allegations of sexual molestation[link]

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In 2010, a European Arrest Warrant was issued for Assange in response to a Swedish police request for questioning in relation to a sexual assault investigation. Assange voluntarily attended a police station in England on 7 December 2010, and was arrested and taken into custody. After ten days in Wandsworth prison, Assange was freed on bail with a residence requirement at Ellingham Hall in Norfolk, England, fitted with an electronic tag and ordered to report to police daily. Assange appealed a February 2011 decision by English courts to extradite him to Sweden, saying the allegations were "without basis".^[173][174] On 2 November 2011 the High Court upheld the extradition decision and rejected all four grounds of appeal presented by Assange's legal representatives. Costs of £19000 were also awarded against Assange.

On 20 August 2010, Swedish police began an investigation into allegations concerning Assange's behaviour in separate sexual encounters involving two different women.^[175][176] Assange has said the allegations are "without basis",^[177] describing all the sexual encounters as consensual.^[178][179] In December 2010, Assange, then in Britain, learned that the Swedish authorities had issued a European Arrest Warrant (EAW) to extradite him to Sweden for questioning.

According to published reports, the charges Sweden has lodged against Assange involve two different women, neither of whom contacted the police until after they discovered they were both involved with him. Their initial intention was reportedly to force Assange to take an HIV test. There are four charges: that on 14 August 2010 he committed "unlawful coercion" when he held complainant 1 down with his body weight in a sexual manner; that he "sexually molested" complainant 1 when he had condom-less sex with her after she insisted that he use one; that he had condom-less sex with complainant 2 on the morning of 17 August while she was asleep; and that he "deliberately molested" complainant 1 on 18 August 2010 by pressing his erect penis against her body.^[180][181]

An extradition hearing took place on 7–8 and 11 February 2011 before the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court^[182][183] when the extradition warrant was upheld.^{[184][185][186][187]}

On 2 March 2011, his lawyers lodged papers at the High Court challenging the ruling to extradite Assange to Sweden.^[188] After a hearing on 12 and 13 July 2011, the High Court reserved its judgment, and on 2 November 2011, dismissed his appeal.^[189] On 5 December 2011 Assange's lawyers were granted permission to appeal to the Supreme Court, after the High Court certified that a point of law of general public importance, that ought to be considered by the Supreme Court, was involved in its decision. The certified question is whether a prosecutor can be a judicial authority.^[190][191] Supreme Court heard the appeal on 1 and 2 February 2012.^[192] The court reserved its judgment, and its decision is expected within weeks.^[193] Assange remains on conditional bail.^[188][194]

Residency[link]

Though an Australian citizen, Assange has not lived in Australia since he left after he started work on WikiLeaks.^[5] In 2007 Assange moved to Kenya. Since 2007, he also spent time in Tanzania, stayed in Cairo, Egypt for a week,^[195] Paris, France, Wiesbaden, Germany for two months,^[196] and also Iceland.^{[197][198][199]} He began renting a house in Iceland on 30 March 2010, from which he and other activists, including Birgitta Jónsdóttir, worked on the Collateral Murder video.^[2]

Over the course of 2009–2010 he travelled around Europe, including the United Kingdom, Iceland, Sweden, Austria, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Spain.^{[200][201][202]} On 4 November 2010, Assange told Swiss public television TSR that he was seriously considering seeking political asylum in neutral Switzerland and moving the operation of the WikiLeaks foundation there.^[203] In December 2010, it was reported that U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland Donald S. Beyer had warned the Swiss government against offering asylum to Assange, citing the arrest warrant issued by Interpol.^[204]

In late November 2010, Kintto Lucas, the Deputy Foreign Minister of Ecuador, spoke about giving Assange residency with "no conditions... so he can freely present the information he possesses and all the documentation, not just over the Internet but in a variety of public forums".^[205] Lucas believed that Ecuador may benefit from initiating a dialogue with Assange.^[206] Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño stated on 30 November that the residency application would "have to be studied from the legal and diplomatic perspective".^[207] A few hours later, President Rafael Correa stated that WikiLeaks "committed an error by breaking the laws of the United States and leaking this type of information... no official offer was [ever] made."^[208][209] Correa noted that Lucas was speaking "on his own behalf"; additionally, he will launch an investigation into possible ramifications Ecuador would suffer from the release of the cables.^[209]

In a hearing at the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on 7 December 2010, Assange identified a post office box as his address. When told by the judge that this information was not acceptable, he submitted "Parkville, Victoria, Australia" on a sheet of paper. His lack of permanent address and nomadic lifestyle were cited by the judge as factors in denying bail.^[210] He was ultimately released, in part because journalist Vaughan Smith offered to provide Assange with an address for bail during the extradition proceedings, Smith's Norfolk mansion, Ellingham Hall.^[211] He lived there for a year, then moved out in December 2011 to a "3,000-acre estate in East Sussex" - "a lodge on Lord Abergavenny's Eridge Park estate, near Tunbridge Wells".^[212][213]

Political and economic views[link]

According to Assange, "It’s not correct to put me in any one philosophical or economic camp, because I’ve learned from many. But one is American libertarianism, market libertarianism. So as far as markets are concerned I’m a libertarian, but I have enough expertise in politics and history to understand that a free market ends up as monopoly unless you force them to be free."^[214]

Running for Australian Senate[link]

On 17 March 2012 WikiLeaks announced on its Twitter account that Assange plans to run for the Australian Senate in the next Australian federal election.^[215]

Works[link]

Books

• Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier (1997) (Assange is credited as "researcher" for the credited principal author, Suelette Dreyfus)

Essays

• State and Terrorist Conspiracies (2006)
• Conspiracy as Governance (2006)
• The Hidden Curse of Thomas Paine (2008)

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (April 2012)

	Australia portal
	Internet portal
	Biography portal

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Julian Assange

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Julian Assange

Wikinews has news related to: Julian Assange

• Homepage of Julian Assange's web site iq.org (at the Internet Archive)
• Julian Assange at TED Conferences
• Works by or about Julian Assange in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Works by Julian Assange at Project Gutenberg
• Julian Assange collected news and commentary at The Guardian
• Julian Assange collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Profile: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange at BBC News
• Interview with Julian Assange on release of Afghan war files – 1 August 2010 Russia Today via YouTube
• Frost Over the World – Julian Assange – December 2010. Al Jazeera English via YouTube
• Julian Assange interviewed by John Pilger on New Statesman January 2011
• Julian Assange: The "60 Minutes" Interview interviewed by Steve Kroft on 60 Minutes January 2011.
• Interview Julian Assange. Frontline. 4 April 2011.

Nabeel Rajab
Personal picture for Nabeel Rajab at his office
Born	Nabeel Ahmed Rajab (1964-01-01) January 1, 1964 (age 48) Bahrain
Residence	Bani Jamra, Kingdom of Bahrain
Ethnicity	Bahrani
Education	Bachelor's degree in Political Science and History from the University of Pune
Occupation	Human rights defender
Years active	1996–present
Religion	Islam
Children	Adam and Malak
Website
http://www.bahrainrights.org/

Nabeel Ahmed Rajab (Arabic: نبيل أحمد رجب‎) is a Bahraini human rights defender and President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), a nonprofit non-governmental organisation which works to promote human rights in Bahrain.^[1] He is also a member of the Advisory Committee of Human Rights Watch's Middle East Division, Deputy Secretary General for the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH),^[2][3] Chairman of CARAM Asia^[4][5] and president of Gulf Center for Human Rights.^[6] As a result of his human rights activities he has been threatened and harassed by the Bahraini authorities.^[7][8]

Nabeel, currently a father of two, started his human rights activity during the 1990s uprising and since then he became a founding member of many human rights organisations, not only in Bahrain, but also in the Gulf. Nabeel drew attention to the conditions which migrant workers face in GCC countries, attained positions at several international human rights organisations and received international human rights prizes. He has been active in promoting the culture of human rights through the online media, especially Facebook and Twitter where he has 121,077 followers (as of March 2012).

During the 2011-2012 Bahraini uprising, Nabeel led protests from the first day and supported the human rights of protesters. As a result he was in direct conflict with the political authorities and security forces. He was arrested many times, allegedly beaten, his house attacked with tear gas and threaten with death. Yet he continued criticizing the government, calling their reforms cosmetic, organizing and leading protests. Due to this, in their documentary "People & Power : Anniversary of Bahrain Revolution" Al Jazeera English named Nabeel "The unofficial leader of the 14 February movement".^[9]

Biography[link]

Nabeel Rajab was born on 1 January 1964. He is married and has 2 children. He finished his secondary school education in 1983 in Bahrain, specialising in science. He received his Bachelor's degree in Political Science and History in 1987 from the University of Pune (formerly University of Poona) in India.

Human rights activism[link]

Early years[link]

In an interview with Bahrain Mirror,^[10] Nabeel Rajab spoke about his earliest human rights activities while still a student at Al Hoora secondary school and described two particularly significant formative experiences:

Rajab traveled to India to study Political Science and History. He received his Bachelor's degree but financial problems after his father became ill prevented him obtaining a Master's degree. He returned to Bahrain to find employment. During his college years, he remained independent of political affiliations. Despite lacking a clear understanding of what constitutes a culture of human rights or knowledge of human rights standards and norms, he was active within the general Bahraini students union, speaking out against all forms of injustice. He became involved in international campaigning on specific issues.^[10]

Organized work[link]

It was during the 1990s uprising in Bahrain that Nabeel Rajab became involved in organized human rights activities. He tried to make contact with human rights organizations in other countries. Because of the risks associated with human rights activism at that time, these activities had to remain clandestine. In 1996 Rajab discussed the idea of setting up a human rights organization with Ali Rabea'a and Ibrahim Kamal Al Den. They introduced him to Salman Kamal Al Den, Sabeeka Al Najjar, Mohammed Al Motawa and other colleagues with whom they held secret meetings. Together they founded the Bahrain Human Rights Society in 1999.^[10]

Foundation of Human Rights committees[link]

With the ending of the oppressive State Security Law period in 1999, Nabeel Rajab was able to begin working openly in the field of Human rights as one of the founders of the Bahrain Human Rights Society, one of the first human rights organization in Bahrain.

He subsequently fell out with some of the other founders and in 2002, following wide ranging political reforms by the Bahraini government which allowed independent Human rights groups to operate, with Abdulhadi Alkhawaja and others Nabeel Rajab was one of the founders of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR). Rajab was Training Program Officer and Senior Researcher at BCHR between September 2002 and September 2003, when he became Vice President and Head of International Relations until 2005. In 2007 he took over from Abdulhadi Alkhawaja as President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, a position he still holds (May 2011).

Nabeel was one of the founders of a number of human rights committees in Bahrain with a specific focus, including the National Committee of Victims of Torture-Bahrain (2003), the Committee of the Unemployed and Underpaid (2005), the Committee on Decent Housing (2005), the Committee of the Bedoun (Stateless) (2005) and the Committee to Defend Detained Human Rights Activists (2007).

Migrant workers rights[link]

External videos
	Nabeel Rajab defending migrant workers, London, November 2010 at Vimeo

Nabeel Rajab was one of the founders of the first migrant workers protection committee in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, the Migrant Workers Protection Group (in 2003).

On 28 April 2007, the Bahraini Parliament passed a law banning unmarried migrant workers from living in residential areas. BCHR issued a press release condemning this decision as discriminatory and promoting negative racist attitudes towards migrant workers.^[11][12] Nabeel Rajab, then BCHR vice president, said:

In October 2009 Nabeel was elected Chairperson of CARAM Asia for 2 years. CARAM is a regional non-governmental organization, based in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, that works to defend the rights of migrant workers, reduce the risks to which their communities are vulnerable, including HIV, and promote their health rights.

On 24 February 2010, Nabeel Rajab addressed the "World Congress against the Death Penalty" conference in Geneva on the subject of "Migrant Workers and the Death Penalty in Bahrain & Saudi Arabia".^[13] He drew attention to the exceptional vulnerability of migrant workers in countries with systemic abuses and rights violations.^[13]

Work with other international Human Rights organizations[link]

Since December 2009, Nabeel has been a member of the Board of Advisors of the Middle East and North African division of Human Rights Watch.

In July 2010 the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) appointed Rajab to the position of Deputy Secretary General and FIDH permanent representative in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. In March 2011 Nabeel Rajab was elected Deputy Chairperson of the Arab media monitoring group for a 2 year period.

Human rights activities[link]

As a human rights defender Nabeel Rajab has worked to promote a culture of human rights and defend civil and political rights and liberties both inside and outside Bahrain. While promoting the rights of all, his work has focused in particular on fighting discrimination and protecting migrant workers.

In Bahrain, Nabeel Rajab supports the victims of Human rights violations for example by accompanying them at peaceful sit-ins and helping them obtain legal support.

As President of Bahrain Center for Human Rights, he is involved in monitoring and reporting human rights violations in Bahrain and the wider region. Bahrain Center for Human Rights, whose website is blocked in Bahrain, is the principal human rights body documenting human rights violation in Bahrain and reporting them to international human rights organizations and UN mechanisms for human rights.

At forums and seminars on human rights he has drawn attention to the situation concerning Human rights in Bahrain and the region and called on the international community to take action. He has also participated in multiple fact-finding missions organized by international non-governmental organizations, including FIDH missions investigating Torture, Enforced Disappearances, Arbitrary Arrests, Detentions and Fair Trial Guarantees in Yemen^[14] (August 2009) and Terrorism and Human Rights in the Philippines Fighting Terror or Terrorizing?.^[15]

2011 Ion Ratiu Democracy Award[link]

On 28 July, it was announced that Nabeel Rajab will receive the 2011 Ion Ratiu Democracy Award, presented annually by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.^[16][17] Because he "has worked tirelessly and at considerable personal peril to advance the cause of democratic freedoms and the civil rights of Bahraini citizens".^[18]

The purpose of the Ion Ratiu Democracy Award is to bring visibility and international recognition to the ideas and accomplishments of individuals around the world who are working on behalf of democracy.^[18]

The award strives to enrich the intellectual environment in which ideas about democracy and democratic change circulate, both within and beyond Washington. Sponsored in cooperation With the Ratiu Family Charitable Foundation (London, UK) and the Ratiu Center for Democracy (Turda, Romania), the award expresses the deep commitment to democracy of the late Ion Ratiu through his contributions as a Romanian politician and.intellectual as well as his interest in democratic change worldwide.^[18]

The Silbury Prize[link]

On 13 September, Nabeel Rajab received the Silbury Prize to "facilitate his on-going humanitarian and human rights work". Lord Avebury, a trustee and Secretary of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group, said: “This latest crackdown follows the severe attacks on doctors, other professionals, trade unionists and human rights activists; extreme violence against peaceful demonstrators, and show trials of leading members of the opposition”.

The Silbury Fund is a UK registered charity which, since its foundation in 1973 has supported numerous individuals and educational projects concerned with the promotion of human rights, democracy and fighting racism.^[19]

Threats and harassment prior to 2011[link]

Beating marks on the back of Nabeel Rajab after police attacked a peaceful protest on 15 July 2005

Since 2005, Nabeel Rajab has been the subject of ongoing harassment including physical attacks and smear campaigns in the media (official TV, radio channels, Bahrain news agency and newspapers close to government).^[20][21][22] In a postal campaign targeting Rajab and his wife thousands of letters were distributed ^[23] accusing him and his wife of being traitors and including his photo. Thousands of telephone text messages were sent to people in Bahrain via a company in South Africa that was paid through the private account of Sheikh Ahmed bin Ateyatalla Al-Khalifa, former Minister of state. The complaints filed by Rajab and his wife filed with the Office of the Public Prosecutor were ignored and never investigated.

On 15 July 2005, Nabeel was beaten by Special Forces whilst attending a peaceful demonstration in solidarity with the Committee for the Unemployed. He suffered a spinal injury, a broken finger, a fractured arm and a head injury^[24] and was hospitalised for two weeks as a result (see pictures). He continues to suffer the consequences of the spinal injury.

In March 2007, Nabeel was interrogated by the Office of the Public Prosecutor in relation to an article published by BCHR about the 'Bandargate Scandal', a government plan to marginalize the majority Shia community in Bahrain.^[25]

In 2007 the organisation Front Line (International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders) which campaigns to protect human rights defenders at risk who work, non-violently, for the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, expressed deep concern that ongoing intimidation and harassment was intended to discourage Nabeel Rajab from carrying out legitimate peaceful activities in defence of human rights in Bahrain, citing in particular the rights of freedom of expression and opinion, freedom of assembly and freedom of association.^[26]

In August 2009, Nabeel Rajab was arrested for a few hours after attending a peaceful sit-in in front of the Saudi Arabian embassy in solidarity with Al-Murbati family one of whose family members has been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for 7 years without trial.^[27]

In September 2010 Nabeel Rajab's photograph was published a number of times by the government-owned Alwatan Newspaper which accused him of supporting an alleged terrorism network and being "active in publishing false reports and information". On September 4, 2010, the Bahrain National News Agency (BNA) published a statement coming from the national security services which referred to Rajab as having been officially accused of involvement in the alleged terrorist network and posted his picture at the agency website. The following day the agency removed Mr. Rajab’s name and photo from the statement.^[28]

During this time, the authorities imposed a ban preventing Nabeel Rajab from engaging in any new business in Bahrain that made it difficult for him to earn a living. The ban was subsequently lifted without any justification having been given for it.^[29][30]

Nabeel Rajab and Abdulhadi Alkhawaja helping an old woman after police attacked a peaceful protest in 14 August 2010

When the security crackdown in mid August 2010 started many human rights defenders were arrested. An order for Nabeel Rajab's arrest was issued on 8 September 2010 but was cancelled on 18 October 2010.^[31] Nabeel was the subject of a travel ban between September 2010 to October 2010.^[32]

On 2 December 2010, Nabeel Rajab was detained by national security police for an hour at Manama airport as he was about to fly to Greece. He was subjected to selective security measures, threatened and his personal laptop and mobile phone were confiscated (along with the other electronic devices in his possession). All the files and other information on these devices were copied, including family pictures and files related to Rajab's human rights work.^[33]

Rajab's phone and electronic communication are closely monitored, as the questioning of current detainees about their relationship and work with Rajab has revealed.

In December 2010 Human Rights Watch commented that although Bahrain's leaders repeatedly insisted that the Bahraini government respected human rights, its harassment of Nabeel Rajab told another story.^[34]

Involvement in the 2011-2012 Bahraini uprising[link]

Nabeel Rajab (left) along with Ali Abdulemam (middle) and Abdulhadi Alkhawaja (right) taking part in a pro-democracy march on 23 February

Nabeel Rajab's activities in support of the human rights of protesters in the 2011-2012 Bahraini uprising have brought him into conflict with the political authorities and security forces.

In March 2011 he condemned the Bahrain government's use of force against peaceful protesters and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights accused Bahraini forces and their Saudi and Emirati allies of "massacres" after four protesters were killed.

In the early hours of 20 March, a group of 20 to 25 masked men, some armed with rifles and accompanied by dozens of uniformed Bahraini security forces, broke into Rajab's house. Rajab was detained and his files and a computer confiscated. He reported that they blindfolded and handcuffed him and put him into the back of a vehicle before verbally abusing, beating and threatening to rape him. He claimed that they kicked him when he refused to say that he loved the prime minister. He was taken to a Ministry of Interior detention facility in Adliya, a suburb of Manama. After being briefly questioned about someone he did not know, he was released.^[35][36][37]

On April 10, officials publicly accused Rajab of fabricating photos posted on his twitter account of the body of Ali Isa Ibrahim Saqer, who died in detention on April 9. The Ministry of Interior announced that Rajab would be referred to the Military Prosecutor for legal action.^[38] The photos showed slash marks all over his back and other signs of physical abuse, and were confirmed as accurate by a Human Rights Watch researcher who had seen the body prior to burial.^[39][40] Five prison guards were subsequently charged with Saqer's death.^[41]

External videos
	Front Line interview with Nabeel Rajab about attacks on his house on YouTube

Tear gas fired at Rajab's house on 18 April (left) and 21 May (right)

In incidents on 18 April, 21 May and 15 December^[42] tear gas grenades were fired at Rajab's house in the village of Bani Jamra by unknown assailants. In the first incident, Human Rights Watch identified the grenades thrown into the Rajab family's compound as US-manufactured munitions to which only Bahrain's security forces would have had access. Tear gas penetrated into the adjacent home of Rajab's 78-year-old mother who suffers from respiratory disease, causing her great distress.^[43][44]

In the early hours of 21 May four gas grenades were fired at the house. This time, according to Rajab, the grenades were smaller than those used in the mid-April assault and there were no marks identifying the manufacturer.^[37][45][46]

In early May 2011, an anonymous smear campaign targeting Nabeel Rajab and Maryam Alkhawaja had been launched with the Bahraini authorities' active support.^[47] Later in the month Rajab claimed that his uncle, Moh'd Hassan Moh'd Jawad (65 years), an arrested activist, was being tortured because of their relationship.^[48] Rajab was prevented by Muharraq airport security staff from traveling to Beirut to attend an IFEX meeting.^[49][50][51] He was again prevented from traveling in June, this time to a conference in Cairo to which he had been invited by Amnesty International.^[52]

Nabeel Rajab protesting outside Muharraq airport after being prevented from traveling to IFEX meeting in Beirut 29 May 2011

On 31 May, just after the King of Bahrain had called for dialogue without preconditions to begin in early July^[53] the military court of the Bahrain Defence Force issued an order for Nabeel Rajab's arrest along with those of prominent Al Wefaq parliamentarians.^[54][55] Rajab was accused of spreading false news and statements about the situation in Bahrain and promoting hatred and disrespect of a specific religious sect, in addition to humiliating the king of Bahrain.^[56] All the detainees were released the same day.^[57][58]

On 19 August after the BCHR website published an article titled "Some members of the Bahraini royal family beating & torturing political prisoners", Nabeel Rajab was ordered to report to the police station in Hamad Town for questioning about his Twitter activity and was released shortly after.^[59][60][61]

On 5 December, Adel Flaifel, a former colonel in the State Security and Intelligence Service of Bahrain who is close to the Prime Minister, threatened by twit Messrs. Mohammed Al-Maskati, Nabeel Rajab and Yousef Al-Mahafdha. He said “Maskati and Nabeel Rajab your future death and hell”. Addressing to the three human rights defenders, he also wrote “Will not be silent about you”.^[62]

Although expecting to be arrested at any time, Rajab has continued his work of documenting and reporting human right violations, securing international support and helping provide the families of detainees with moral support. He has made skilful use of the new social media technology to raise awareness and distribute up-to-date information about the situation in Bahrain.^[63]

2012[link]

External videos
	Nabeel Rajab speaking with police officer in charge during a protest in Manama followed by police crackdown on YouTube
	Video posted by ministry of interior to back up their claims on YouTube

Bruising on Nabeel Rajab face after allegedly getting beaten by police

On 6 January, after leading a peaceful protest in Fareeq el-Makharqa in Manama at night Nabeel Rajab was hospitalized and briefly detained^[64] with injuries from an alleged beating, which the opposition blamed on security forces.^[65] In their Twitter account, Ministry of interior denied the charge, saying police found Nabeel Rajab "lying on the ground" and referred him to hospital.^[66] The next day they posted an edited, two-minute clip -with voice removed- on their official YouTube channel to back up their claims.^[67] In the footage, Rajab can be seen walking to the ambulance, initially with the assistance of police officers and then independently while making a phone call. The Arabic term for lying down has already garnered its own hashtag, used by opposition activists to make fun of ministry of interior story.^[64]

The Bahraini "National Dialogue"[link]

On 31 May, the king of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, called for a national dialogue to resolve ongoing tensions.^[68] The genuine substance of this proposal has been disputed by many opposition figures.^[69][70][71] - it has even been referred to disparagingly as a "chitchat room".^[72] Nabeel Rajab welcomed the principle of dialogue as offering the only way out of the current political crisis, but criticized the current process. He considered it wrong to participate in a fake dialogue "that provokes sectarian tensions instead of resolving the current conflict".^[73] He rejected the government's attempt to frame the dialogue in terms of a discussion between Sunna and Shia because the problem and the political crisis were rooted in the relationship between the people of Bahrain and the ruling regime.^[74]

Other support for protesters[link]

Nabeel Rajab supported February 14 Youth Coalition call for a "Right of Self-Determination"^[75] and took part in the two "Right of Self Determination" assemblies in late June^[76] and early July.^[77][78]

He has campaigned with other human rights and political activists, in particular Mohammed Al-Maskati of BYSHR and former Al-Wefaq MP Sayed Hadi Al-Mosawi, on behalf of the families of victims of the violence. After being given Ali Al-Mo'men's ring by the family he described it as "the most valuable gift in my life."^[79][80][81]

Irish Delegation meet with Nabeel Rajab at his home

Irish fact finding delegation[link]

The Irish Fact Finding Delegation, a group of Irish doctors, politicians and human rights representatives led by orthopaedic surgeon Damian McCormack traveled to Bahrain with high level political support to investigate the plight of doctors, nurses, and paramedics arrested for treating supporters of the 2011 Bahrain Uprising. The delegation met with Nabeel Rajab at his home on 15 July where he showed them how his house has been targeted with tear gas for speaking out about human rights abuses.^[82]

Criticism of the United States[link]

On 26 July Al Jazeera English published an interview with Nabeel Rajab in which he criticized the US role in Bahrain. "The silence of United States has disappointed people very much" He said "It is very clear now that the United States democracy and human rights are only applied in countries which they have problems with, not with dictatorships that they have good relations with" He added.^[83]

He criticized them again on 21 December in an interview with National Post. “The government of the United States is backing the royals in this part of the world. They are supporting the dictators. The U.S. looks very hard on Syria and Libya but, when they look at their allies, are very soft,” he said.^[84]

Online Activity[link]

Nabeel has been active in promoting the culture of human rights through the online media, especially Facebook and Twitter, where he posts educational messages on human rights in addition to updates about human rights violations. He uses Twitter^[85] and Facebook ^[86] where he has 58,145 likes to empower people around the Gulf region by demonstrating how social media can be used to enhance the region's human rights culture.

In the 2011 Forbes list of the top 100 Arabs on Twitter, Nabeel Rajab was ranked number 43 with 36040 followers^[87] (currently 121,077 - March 2012). He was ranked number 2 in Bahrain behind foreign minister Khalid Al-Khalifa who congratulated him after the results were posted.^[88]

First Arab Twitter prosecution[link]

In April 2011 the Bahraini Interior Ministry announced that Rajab would be prosecuted by a military court for the offence of publishing an image on his personal Twitter account of the Bahraini Ali Issa Saqr, who had died in Bahrain prison. The Ministry accused Rajab of fabricating the pictures showing signs of torture on Sakr's body. Rajab denied fabricating the photograph and held the Bahraini security services responsible for Sakr's death. Bahraini activists maintained that the photographs show that Saqr he was tortured and killed while in police custody.^[89][90][91]

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information noted that Rajab's would be the first trial for tweeting (publishing information on Twitter) anywhere in the Arab world and an illustration of the Bahraini government's "implacable hostility ... against the freedom of expression and Internet freedom". ANHRI accused the Bahraini government of not being prepared to overlook any means of expression of opinion as it restricted citizens's ability to engage in the peaceful expression of their views.^[92]

Additional Images[link]

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  Rajab hospitalized after being attacked by government security forces at a peaceful demonstration in 15 July 2005

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  Nabeel Rajab (right) along with Abdulhadi Alkhawaja (left) at a pro-democracy march

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  Nabeel Rajab (left) visit to Freedom House along with Abdulhadi Alkhawaja (right)

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  Nabeel Rajab with his mother after the first attack on his house on 18 April 2011

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  Military court order for Nabeel Rajab 31 May 2011

See also[link]

• Bahrain Center for Human Rights
• Abdulhadi Alkhawaja
• 2011 Bahraini uprising
• 1990s Uprising in Bahrain
• Human Rights Watch
• International Federation for Human Rights
• Bahrain Human Rights Society
• Civil and political rights

External links[link]

• Bahrain Center for Human Rights website
• FIDH - International Federation for Human Rights website
• CARAM - Coordination of Action Research on Aids and Mobility website
• Nabeel Rajab Facebook page
• Nabeel Rajab Twitter page
• List of videos for Nabeel Rajab

References[link]