US embassy cable - 04MANAMA838

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