Nabeel Raja is a Bahraini human rights activist and opposition figure. He is the president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), 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), member of the Advisory Board of the Bahrain Rehabilitation and Anti-Violence Organization (BRAVO), co-founder of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), and former chairman of CARAM Asia.

Nabeel Rajab was born on 1 September 1964 in Bahrain to a middle-class family. He is married and has two children. He finished his secondary school education in 1983 in Bahrain, specializing in science. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and History from the University of Pune (formerly University of Poona) in India in 1987. He earns his living as a "building contractor by trade". In February 2012, Rajab announced his intention to close down his business due to what he called government harassment. Nabeel Rajab is a nephew of Mohamed Hasan Jawad, one of the Bahrain Thirteen who were imprisoned for taking part in the uprising in 2011. He is also a cousin of Hussain Jawad, a prominent human rights activist arrested in February 2015.