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