Dubai: Rights activist Nabeel Rajab, a leader of protests against the government in Bahrain, has been arrested on his return from a trip abroad, the interior ministry and activists said on Sunday.
Rajab, who heads the non-governmental Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), was arrested at the airport late on Saturday over charges of "participating in illegal assembly and calling others to join," the centre said in a statement.
His trial is expected to begin on Sunday.
"Nabeel Rajab arrested by order of public prosecution. All legal procedures are being taken," the interior ministry said on its Twitter account.
Rajab was returning from Lebanon where he met the representative of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, according to activist Mohammad Al Maskati, who travelled with him.
He was led away by people in plainclothes, Maskati wrote on his Twitter page.
The BCHR said Rajab could face further charges, as he was summoned for interrogation on April 26 accused of "insulting the statutory bodies."
It quoted Rajab as saying earlier that he refused to attend his trial, accusing Bahrain's judiciary system of not being fair.
The activist has had various standoffs with police over the past months as he led small protests in the centre of Manama calling for democratic change.
Rajab has insisted on demonstrating inside the capital, unlike the main Shiite opposition, which now stages its protests in Shiite villages, after last year's clampdown on protesters.
