AMBASSADOR QUESTIONS GOB THREATS TO SHUT DOWN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MANAMA 000838

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/PI, DRL/PHD, DRL/IL, INL/G/TIP
CAIRO FOR STEVE BONDY

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/01/2029
TAGS: PHUM, ELAB, KMPI, KCRM, BA
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR QUESTIONS GOB THREATS TO SHUT DOWN
HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP


Classified By: Ambassador Ronald E. Neumann for 1.4(b)(d).

1.(C) SUMMARY: Labor Minister Majeed al-Alawi accused the
Bahrain Centre for Human Rights of violating Bahrain's laws
and its own charter by conducting "political" activities in
response to the Ambassador's question about the ministry's
threat to revoke the Centre's license. Al-Alawi also accused
the Centre of affiliation with "extremists" like Bahrain
Freedom Movement leader Saeed Shihabi and al-Wefaq Vice
President Hassan Mushaimaa. Al-Alawi's comments echoed those
of Industry Minister and royal confidante Hasan Fakhro to the
departing DCM. Both the Ambassador and DCM noted that
revoking the license could damage Bahrain's reputation.
Al-Alawi said that if he had to pull the license, the Centre
could sue in court. Centre President Nabeel Rajab rejected
the government claims and said the Labor Ministry had not
responded to his official request for details of the Centre's
"transgressions." He denied ties to "extremists." The
Centre is both a legitimate human rights organization and
very much on the side of the political opposition. We doubt
the GOB will pull the Centre's license, but we should expect
the GOB to criticize the Centre whenever it exposes the GOB
for human rights shortcomings. END SUMMARY.

2.(C) During his May 26 farewell call on Labor Minister
Majeed al-Alawi, the Ambassador questioned the ministry's
public threat to revoke the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights's
license. The Ambassador noted that following through on the
threat could damage Bahrain's international reputation as a
strong supporter of human rights. Al-Alawi, a former leader
of Bahrain's exiled political opposition, surprisingly
accused the Centre of violating Bahrain's societies law by
undertaking "political" activities and for violating
Bahrain's law against promoting "sectarianism." Al-Alawi
stressed that the Centre's charter stated that it would only
conduct human rights research and training. He further
accused the Centre of associating with political extremists
like Bahrain Freedom Movement leader Saeed al-Shihabi and
al-Wefaq Vice President Hassan Mushaimaa. Al-Alawi noted
that two founders of the Centre, human rights activist Hasan
Moussa and hardline opposition intellectual Aziz Abul, had
resigned from the Centre because its activities had strayed
from its original goals into politics. He closed with the
argument that if he pulled the Centre's license, it could
take its case to the courts.

3.(C) At the same time that the Minister was lambasting the
Centre for "political" activities, his Director of Labor
Relations was agreeing with our POLOFF to conduct a joint
training program with the Centre for worker abuse hotline
operators. As part of Bahrain's efforts to fight trafficking
in persons, both the Ministry and the Centre operate hotlines
to help immigrant workers. The Embassy plans to fund the
training program through the MEPI small grants program.

4.(C) One week earlier, outgoing DCM Robert Ford made a
similar query to Industry Minister and royal confidante
Hassan Fakhro, who responded in a similar vein but with a
personal twist. Fakhro commented that the government thought
Centre President Nabeel Rajab was a "good guy," but Centre
Vice President Abd al-Hadi al-Khawaja was involved in
unacceptable activities. Ford suggested that by their nature
human rights advocacy groups will engage in activities that
could be views as "political." He also advised Fakhro that
revoking the Centre's license would harm Bahrain's reputation.

5.(C) On June 2, Centre President Nabeel Rajab advised
POL/ECON Chief that he has heard similar accusations from
others. He stated that the Centre restricts its activities
to support for U.N. designated human rights issues, like
insuring that detained individuals receive due process
rights. He commented that he had written a letter to the
Labor Ministry asking it to specify the activities the
ministry claimed were against the law. Rajab said that he
still has not received an answer.

6.(C) With respect to the other charges, Rajab noted that the
Centre had folded its committee to defend the petition
detainees after al-Wefaq had tried to take over committee's
activities, and commented that al-Wefaq had been criticized
in internet chat rooms for its slow response to defend its
activists after their arrests. Rajab denied any contact with
Saeed al-Shehabi. He added that political activist Aziz Abul
had rejoined the Centre and would be representing it next
week at an international human rights conference. As an
aside, Rajab noted that the Labor Ministry continues to deny
the Centre a license to establish an abused workers' shelter
while not following through on its own commitment to
establish its own shelter.

7.(C) In a further move against the Centre, Bahrain's
Attorney General stated that the Centre's involvement in
support of the petition detainees was outside the scope of
its charter. Rajab told POL/ECON Chief June 2 that the
statement was a response to a letter sent to the Attorney
General asking if the charges against the detainees released
by the King's order had been dropped. The letter, he said,
also asked if the released individuals might later face
prosecution on the same charges. Rajab said that Human
Rights Watch and other international human rights
organizations had recommended that he write such a letter.

8.(C) COMMENT: Democracy is new to Bahrain, and all actors
-- governmental and non-governmantal -- are learning. To our
knowledge, the Centre has not crossed the line into political
activities, but the way it has presented its research on
discrimination and Bahrain's penal code has been used by
others (al-Wefaq and the Bahrain Freedom Movement) for
political purposes. We doubt the GOB will pull the Centre's
license anytime soon, but the GOB, which is unaccustomed to
public criticism, could continue to snipe publicly at some
Centre activities while it continues to work with it on
others (TIP projects for instance). END COMMENT.
NEUMANN