US embassy cable - 04MANAMA264

S E C R E T MANAMA 000264 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/FO: PDAS LAROCCO AND DAS DIBBLE 
NEA/ARP, S/CT 
CAIRO FOR STEVE BONDY 
LONDON FOR ETHAN GOLDRICH 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/23/2029 
TAGS: PTER, PREL, ASEC, BA 
SUBJECT: CONSPIRACY LAW POSSIBILITIES - MEETING WITH MOJ 
 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Robert S. Ford for reasons 
1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1.  (C)  Upon return from his Washington trip, the Crown 
Prince placed a wake-up call to the Justice Minister to ask 
about Bahrain's conspiracy law, the Minister told CDA and 
PolOff on February 22.  Minister of Justice Jawad bin Salim 
Al Arayed asked us what a conspiracy law should do.  The CDA 
explained that Bahraini security officials told us that the 
GOB can only detain a person who is in possession of illegal 
weapons or has already committed an act of violence.  A 
conspiracy law would allow the GOB to detain a person who is 
suspected of planning a violent act, and if found guilty of 
such planning, convict in a court of law and imprison him. 
The Charge cited the three detained suspects the GOB released 
last year for lack of evidence or a conspiracy law.  The 
Charge said we are concerned that these people are still 
planning to commit violent criminal acts against US citizens 
in Bahrain. 
 
2.  (C)  Assistant Undersecretary and Chief Prosecutor Shaikh 
Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa  who joined the meeting said that 
Articles 152, 157 and 158 of the Criminal Procedures Law 
address various procedures for terrorist acts.  Shaikh Khalid 
reiterated that evidence must link conspirators and indicate 
that the planned violent act would occur within the borders 
of Bahrain.  Shaikh Khalid said the three detainees were 
released for lack of this type of evidence.  CDA shot back 
that this a why Bahrain needs a conspiracy law.  Because of 
all the Islamic conservatives in Parliament, the Justice 
Minister doubted that Parliament would ever pass such a law. 
 
3.  (U)  Having said that, Al Arayed said there might be 
other avenues to move ahead.  He asked to review the US 
conspiracy law.  Although Post forwarded copies of the law on 
at least two occasions to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Al 
Arayed confirmed that he never received any of these copies. 
Charge mentioned that Jordan used its laws to detain persons 
suspected of criminal conspiracy.  Shaikh Khalid also 
mentioned that Morocco recently passed a law on terrorism. 
Al Arayed requested copies of these laws to review.  Shaikh 
Khalid promised to expeditiously review the laws and discuss 
them with us. 
 
4.  (C)  RSO has already solicited copies of both the 
Jordanian conspiracy and Moroccan terrorism laws from RSO 
Amman and Rabat, respectively. 
 
5.  (S)  COMMENT.  The Minister's prognosis that a conspiracy 
law would be a tough sell in Parliament is likely right. 
Some Sunni Islamists in the Parliament and even a secular 
member of the Shi'a opposition are sympathetic to those 
briefly detained last year on suspicion of conspiring to 
commit criminal acts. 
 
6.  (C)  COMMENT CONTINUED.  Parliament notwithstanding 
Minister Al Arayed is willing to engage.  A visit by US legal 
experts to discuss contents of Bahraini and other Arab 
states' laws would be very useful. The quicker we could get 
such a visit, the better.  END COMMENT. 
FORD