US embassy cable - 04MANAMA499

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MANAMA 000499 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP, DRL, IWI, NEA/ARP, 
CAIRO FOR STEVE BONDY 
LONDON FOR ETHAN GOLDRICH 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/03/2029 
TAGS: PHUM, KDEM, KJUS, ELAB, KCRM, BA 
SUBJECT: RIGHTS ACTIVIST'S ARREST - THE GOB BEHAVES POORLY 
 
REF: A. MANAMA 237 
 
     B. 03 MANAMA 02980 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Robert S. Ford for 
reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1.  (C) SUMMARY.  In order to derail an NGO's plan to 
embarrass the GOB during Bahrain's April 4 Grand Prix race, 
the Ministry of Interior (MOI) arrested a human rights 
activist on March 30 for alleged un-Islamic behavior and 
indecency.  In the process the GOB denied the activist his 
right to legal counsel.  In its attempt to defame the 
activist, the GOB broke its own laws and released his name 
and particulars of his case to the local press. The 
Government's handling of this arrest is a message to Bahraini 
NGOs that the Government can revert to tough behavior 
reminiscent of the 1990s when activists try to embarrass the 
government. END SUMMARY. 
 
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THE POLICE VERSION 
------------------ 
 
2.  (C) On March 30, Bahraini police detained President of 
the National Committee for Martyrs and Victims of Torture 
(NCMVT) Abdularouf Abdullah Ahmed Al-Shayeb on charges of 
un-Islamic behavior and indecency.  Al-Shayeb prior to his 
arrest had been trying to organize a protest against torture 
in Bahrain on April 4, the day of the Grand Prix race. 
Subsequent to his arrest, the Public Prosecutor ordered him 
held for one week.  According to an RSO source, the employer 
of an Indonesian housemaid had learned from another Bahraini 
that a stranger had been visiting his housemaid daily while 
the employer was at work.  At the employer's request, the 
police monitored his home.  On March 30 a man was seen 
entering the maid's quarters.  The police raided the quarters 
and discovered the Indonesian housemaid and the man, both 
naked.  The police took the man, later identified as 
Al-Shayeb, into custody.  The housemaid claimed that she was 
having a sexual relationship with Al-Shayeb. 
 
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AL SHAYEB's VERSION 
------------------- 
 
3.  (C) Contrary to the police account, Al-Shayeb told Poloff 
that the GOB had assigned two cars to shadow him since his 
return from Geneva where he met with the United Nations 
Committee on Torture on March 28.  On March 30, Al-Shayeb 
made a visit to the Al Fattah Training Institute when two men 
grabbed him as he walked back to his car.  They brought him 
to a nearby house where another man dragged an Indonesian 
housemaid to the front yard.  Al-Shayeb asserted that she had 
been slapped around, and that she identified Al-Shayeb as a 
man with whom she had been sleeping. He was quickly arrested 
and brought directly to CID for interrogation.  At the 
interrogation, a policeman covered Al-Shayeb's head.  Then a 
man started insulting him and demanding answers.  Al-Shayeb 
alleged that he immediately recognized the voice of former 
Interior Minister official Adel Flaifel, having been tortured 
by him in the past. Al-Shayeb claims that Flaifel threatened 
to cut out his tongue.  At that moment Al-Shayeb uncovered 
his own head and saw Flaifel, who quickly left the 
interrogation room.  Al-Shayeb insists that he was never in 
the housemaid's quarters, never had any type of relationship 
with the woman, and claimed that he would never risk his 
marriage to have an affair with someone so unattractive. 
 
---------------------- 
THE GOB BEHAVES POORLY 
---------------------- 
 
4. (C) For the five days Al-Shayeb was held in jail, the GOB 
denied him access to legal representation.  Human rights 
activist Adel Al-Abassi told PolOff on April 3 that Al-Shayeb 
was denied legal counsel because the GOB feared he might be 
able to give the go-ahead to his Committee to stage a protest 
during the Grand Prix race.  Al-Abassi predicted that the GOB 
would release Al-Shayeb on the day of the race, preventing 
Al-Shayeb from organizing an NCMVT demonstration that would 
have embarrassed the GOB. Bahrain Center for Human Rights 
President Nabeel Rajab told PolOff on April 2 that the 
Ministry of Interior (MOI) panicked and had Al-Shayeb 
arrested to guarantee nothing would happen. In an attempt to 
defame Al-Shayeb, the GOB leaked Al-Shayeb's name and the 
particulars of the case to the local press.  The 
Undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice, Shaikh Khalid bin 
Ali Al-Khalifa, confirmed to P/E Chief on April 4 that it is 
illegal in alleged vice cases to divulge the name and nature 
of a case until a verdict is handed down.  Shaikh Khalid said 
that the Ministry of Information must have leaked Al-Shayeb's 
information to the press, since the Ministry of Justice is 
under strict instructions not to divulge such information. 
 
5.  (C)  COMMENT.  We find Al-Shayeb a character of dubious 
reliability; even our other human rights contacts admit that 
the story about the Indonesian housemaid has questions on all 
sides.  Moreover, this is the first time we have heard of the 
infamous Adel Flaifel returning to the Ministry of Interior. 
That said, there is less question about how the government 
moved to detain and stop the activist; certainly the police 
acted on a vice tip with far greater than usual enthusiasm. 
The GOB's only focus this week was to ensure the success of 
the widely-watched Grand Prix event.  The GOB warned all NGOs 
and the opposition that it would not allow disruptions of any 
kind.  Al-Shayeb was the only activist unwilling to stand 
down.  The GOB appears to have decided it could not risk 
ignoring Al-Shayeb's threat to organize a protest in full 
view of the racing audience.  (The NCMTV had embarrassed the 
GOB in the past by declaring National Martyr's Day the day 
after Bahrain's National Day, staging a televised 
demonstration with over 2500 in attendance - see ref b.)  In 
recent months the GOB has reacted harshly to make sure the 
hard-line opposition here understands the Government will 
react toughly when confronting efforts to embarrass it 
internationally. In so doing, the Government is moving a step 
backwards in the protection of the right of assembly in 
Bahrain.  END COMMENT. 
FORD