Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07MANAMA96
2007-02-04 15:34:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Manama
Cable title:  

ARREST OF PROMINENT ACTIVISTS SPARKS CLASHES

Tags:  PGOV PHUM ASEC BA POL 
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OO RUEHDE RUEHDIR
DE RUEHMK #0096/01 0351534
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 041534Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY MANAMA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6369
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 1284
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 0651
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 0886
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 1175
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0973
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0886
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV PRIORITY 3574
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 2627
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHBVAKS/COMUSNAVCENT PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MANAMA 000096 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/04/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ASEC BA POL
SUBJECT: ARREST OF PROMINENT ACTIVISTS SPARKS CLASHES
BETWEEN PROTESTERS, POLICE

REF: A. MANAMA 0093

B. 06 MANAMA 1728

Classified By: Ambassador William T. Monroe for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
.

-------
Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MANAMA 000096

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/04/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ASEC BA POL
SUBJECT: ARREST OF PROMINENT ACTIVISTS SPARKS CLASHES
BETWEEN PROTESTERS, POLICE

REF: A. MANAMA 0093

B. 06 MANAMA 1728

Classified By: Ambassador William T. Monroe for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
.

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (C) Clashes between protesters and police broke out
February 2 in Shia areas of Bahrain following the early
morning arrest of three political activists, two of whom are
well known oppositionists Hassan Mushaima and Abdul Hadi Al
Khawaja. Demonstrators burned tires and threw stones at
police, who responded with tear gas and rubber bullets. The
three were released later the same day on their own
recognizance following interrogation. They were charged with
delivering speeches that promoted illegal change in
government, inciting hatred, agitation, and harming the
public interest. They denied all the charges, and Mushaima
said all he did was practice his right of freedom of
expression and opinion. Six political societies issued a
public statement in support of the accused, saying the
arrests marked a big retreat for Bahrain's reputation. The
arrests came just days after the January 31 sentencing of two
Shia activists for distributing illegal pamphlets. One
direct effect of the arrests is that leading Shia political
society Al Wifaq was forced to defend its more extremist
rivals in order to maintain credibility in the eyes of many
Shia Bahrainis. End Summary.

-------------- --------------
Activists Arrested, Demonstrators Take to Streets
-------------- --------------


2. (SBU) Violence between protesters and security personnel
erupted in Shia areas across Bahrain February 2 as news
spread of the early morning arrest of three political
activists, two of whom are prominent oppositionists. Hassan
Mushaima, secretary general of the hardline Shia rejectionist
Al Haq movement, former president of the now-dissolved
Bahrain Center for Human Rights Abdul Hadi Al Khawaja, and
Committee for the Unemployed activist Shaker Abdul Hussein
were arrested at about 6 am February 2 and detained and
interrogated before being released on their own recognizance
on the evening of the same day. They were charged with

promoting change in the governing system of the country by
illegal means, inciting hatred against the regime, agitation,
and harming the public interest, in accordance with articles
160, 165, 168, 172, 173, and 214 of the penal code of 1976.
If convicted, they could face more than ten years in prison.
Al Khawaja had been arrested and convicted in late 2004 for
delivering a lecture in which he insulted the Prime Minister.
In that instance, the King ordered Al Khawaja's release the
same day of his conviction.


3. (SBU) As news of the arrests spread, demonstrations broke
out in the downtown Manama souq area and the villages of
Daih, Sanabis, Diraz, and Sitra. According to press reports,
hundreds of people demonstrated in Manama. Clashes broke out
as protesters confronted riot police. Demonstrators burned
tires and threw stones and police responded with tear gas and
rubber bullets (most likely rubber slugs called batons). The
press cites that between two and ten protesters were injured
in the clashes as well as two police personnel.

--------------
Accused Deny Charges
--------------


4. (SBU) Mushaima, Al Khawaja, and Abdul Hussein are accused
of delivering speeches during Ashoura that were critical of
the government and for calling for a public investigation
into allegations made by Salah Al Bandar in a September 2006
report that claimed members of the ruling family tried to
manipulate the political system (Ref B). The press quoted Al
Khawaja as saying, "All that I said is common knowledge to
all people in Bahrain, especially those issues relating to
human rights." Mushaima said he had not offended the King or
any national symbols and denied all the charges against him.

MANAMA 00000096 002 OF 003


He asserted that he was simply practicing his right of
freedom of expression and freedom of opinion. He called for
a serious dialogue with the government.


5. (SBU) Upon their release by the public prosecutor,
Mohammed Al Mutawa, defense lawyer for Abdul Hussein, told
the press, "My client denied all accusations filed against
him except the speech he delivered during Ashoura." He also
denied insulting the King. Mushaima's lawyer Hassan Radhi
said that the accusations against his client do not
correspond with actual events. Lawyer Abdullah Al Shamlawi,
who represents Al Khawaja, said his client denied the charges
filed against him. When confronted with a CD recording of
him delivering a speech, Al Shamlawi reported that Al Khawaja
told investigators that the text had been tampered with by
incorporating words taken out of context from previous
speeches he had made.

--------------
Public Support, Public Criticism
--------------


6. (SBU) Six political societies - Al Wifaq (Shia),Al Waad
(Secular Liberal),Islamic Action (Shia),National
Congregation (Baathist),Progressive Tribunal (Secular
Liberal),and Al Ekha Al Watani (Shia) - issued a joint
statement February 3 about the arrests. They said that
government's moves "impose a big retreat on Bahrain's
reputation" in the field of human rights that will have
negative consequences both internally and externally. They
also faulted the Public Prosecution for acting as if it is
part of the Ministry of Interior rather than an independent
part of the judiciary. In his Friday prayer sermon February
2, head of the Al Wifaq parliamentary bloc Shaikh Ali Salman
condemned the arrests and said he had asked other Al Wifaq
members of parliament to follow up with the public prosecutor
about the case. He said the way the arrests were made was
not appropriate because Mushaima and Al Khawaja "are leading
national figures who are highly respected by the nation." He
stressed the importance of freedom of expression and said
that if people want to protest the arrests, they should do so
in a peaceful way.


7. (SBU) Al Watan newspaper columnist Sawsan Al Shaer
complained February 4 that Mushaima, Al Khawaja, and Al Wifaq
all have double standards because they demand that the
government enforce the law but they do not commit themselves
to the same standard. She wrote, "So, Shaikh Ali Salman asks
for the principle of preserving the dignity of national
figures but he does not ask Mushaima and Al Khawaja to
preserve the dignity of leadership figures, even the King, in
their speeches." She continued that members of parliament,
who are "the protectors of the constitution and the law,"
should have asked the public to be patient rather than
criticize the government for its actions because the steps
the government took were according to the law.

--------------
Two Other Activists Imprisoned for Pamphlet
--------------


8. (SBU) The three arrests came just days after the January
31 sentencing of two Shia political activists convicted of
printing, possessing, and distributing illegal leaflets
calling for an election boycott and questioning the
legitimacy of the Al Khalifa regime. (Note: They were
arrested in November, prior to the late November/early
December parliamentary and municipal elections.) The two,
dentist Mohammed Al Sahlawi and insurance executive Hussein
Al Hibshi, apparently downloaded a paper written by Shia
exile and London-based Bahrain Freedom Movement leader Saeed
Al Shehabi that had been posted on an Internet website,
printed it, and distributed it at public gatherings. Al
Sahlawi was sentenced to one year in prison and Al Hibshi to
six months in prison. Per Ref A, their legal case had been
widely publicized and discussed during Ashoura-related events
in late January. Reactions to their sentencing on Shia-run
websites were predictable. One blogger wrote, "The State
Security Law returns through the window after the doors were
shut." Other contributors called for the King to release
them with time served or pardon them.

MANAMA 00000096 003 OF 003



--------------
Comment
--------------


9. (C) Without knowing the content of the speeches the three
gave during Ashoura, it is difficult to evaluate the validity
of the government's accusations and the accused's
protestations. Although Mushaima, Al Khawaja and the Haq
Movement are competitors of Al Wifaq and its leadership, the
arrests pushed Shaikh Ali Salman and his colleagues in
parliament to defend the three publicly. Al Wifaq had been
gearing up to advocate its constituents' interests in the
parliament, but now it has become sidetracked and has to
stand up for its more extremist and radical rivals in order
to maintain credibility in the eyes of many Shia Bahrainis.
In what could be a coincidence, Al Khawaja, Mushaima, and
colleague Nabeel Rajab planned to visit Washington the week
of February 12. Al Khawaja had been scheduled to speak at an
American Enterprise Institute seminar February 13 called
"Reform in Bahrain: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back?" along
with Salah Al Bandar.


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