Tweeting is not a crime - retweet for freedom

Freedom of speech is a right and a fundamental tool in the defense of human rights. Many governments continue to trample on this right. They use methods such as censuring, threats and even imprisonment to silence human rights defenders.

Just when social networks are becoming a platform for those who defend freedoms, many countries such as Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Malaysia deride human rights by incarcerating defenders  solely for using Twitter to denounce the abuses committed by their governments.

It's hard to believe, but a tweet of fewer than 140 letters can land a human rights defender in jail these days.

With its RETWEET FOR FREEDOM, FIDH hopes to obtain freedom for the forgotten defenders who are in prison for having tweeted. We need your help!

Sharing these tweets means:

1/ Fighting censorship

2/ Mobilising public figures so that a tweet can no longer lead to years in prison.

Dr. Nasser Bin Ghaith (United Arab Emirates) – 3 to 15 years in prison for these tweets if convicted

ناصر بن غيث

ستبقى رابعة رمز للصمود والثبات على الحق من جانب ورمز للعار والتغول بالباطل من جانب آخر .. #ذكرى_فض_رابعة http://t.co/ELrFQv30xh

Dr. Nasser Bin Ghaith is a university lecturer and human rights defender, who, for many years, has been subjected to harassment for his on-line activism. He was arrested in Abu Dhabi by officers from the UAE’s State Security body on 18 August 2015, days after he posted tweets that criticized Egyptian security forces for mass killing of demonstrators at Raba’a Square two years earlier. He was held in solitary confinement in a secret detention facility in conditions amounting to enforced disappearance for over nine months until after the start of his trial in April 2016. He was reportedly ill-treated and tortured during this time. He was only allowed to meet his lawyer for the first time at his second trial session, which took place on 2 May 2016. He is facing five charges - three of which violate his right to freedom of expression - under various provisions of the penal code, a 2012 cybercrime law and a 2014 counter-terrorism law. Some of these charges relate to "tweets and images ridiculing the Egyptian president and government.

Click here to read full report: http://rt4freedom.fidh.org/en