US embassy cable - 05MANAMA1547

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAMA 001547 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARPI AND S/WCI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/19/2015 
TAGS: KAWC, PTER, PHUM, PREL, BA 
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP PROTESTS GTMO, REQUESTS 
WASHINGTON VISIT 
 
Classified by Ambassador William T. Monroe for reasons 1.4 
(b) and (d). 
 
1.  (U) This is an action message; please see para 7. 
 
2.  (C) Five members of the Bahrain Human Rights Watch 
Society (BHRWS) called on the Ambassador October 16 to 
protest the detention of six Bahrainis in Guantanamo and to 
request the Embassy's assistance in arranging meetings for a 
BHRWS delegation to Washington.  The BHRWS officers present 
were Secretary General Houda Nonoo, Deputy Secretary General 
Tariq Al Saffar, General Advisor Omar Al Mardhi, Regional and 
International Relations Director Faisal Fulad, and Press and 
Media Director Ahdeya Ahmed. 
 
3.  (C) Al Mardhi opened the meeting by saying the delegation 
had come as a human rights society, not a political group. 
Like the United States, he said, the BHRWS condemns terror. 
As human rights advocates, however, they believe the United 
States should comply with international conventions and treat 
the GTMO detainees fairly.  He stressed that BHRWS does not 
share the detainees' political beliefs, but seeks to protect 
their rights to a fair trial, no indefinite detention, public 
legal proceedings, legal representation, and if convicted, 
proper penalties applied in a legal fashion.  Al Mardhi said 
the families of the detainees were suffering.  They hear 
about torture, sleep deprivation, and lack of rights, and 
they do not know what will happen next. 
 
4.  (C) Fulad added that the Society was concerned about news 
of a hunger strike among the detainees.  (Note:  The English 
daily Gulf Daily News ran an article October 19 reporting 
U.S. attorney Joshua Colangelo-Bryan's remarks that detainee 
Issa Al Murbati is being fed via a tube.)  Fulad, who is also 
a member of the Shura Council, said that he values the strong 
relations between the United States and Bahrain.  The free 
trade agreement (FTA) and cooperation on the Forum for the 
Future conference, to be held in Manama November 11-12, are 
proof of the good ties.  However, there are many in Bahrain 
who use GTMO to attack U.S. policies.  For example, Islamists 
in parliament were using the issue to put pressure on the 
government regarding implementation of the FTA.  He said that 
a Bahraini detainee's death in Guantanamo would have a 
terrible impact on relations. 
 
5.  (C) The Ambassador told the group they should remember 
that the detainees were taken on the field of battle and were 
declared enemy combatants.  The United States is a rule of 
law country, and a process exists for reviewing the status of 
all the detainees on an annual basis.  We have no desire to 
detain innocent people, he said, and we transfer them when we 
have determined that they no longer pose a threat to the 
United States and its allies. 
 
6.  (C) Fulad said that BHRWS delegation would like to visit 
GTMO to inspect the condition of the Bahraini detainees.  The 
Ambassador replied that Bahraini government teams, the Red 
Cross, and American lawyers had visited the Bahraini 
detainees at GTMO, but other groups were not given access. 
He pledged to pass the request to Washington, though he did 
not expect it to be approved.  Fulad said he was aware of 
Saudi, Qatari, and UAE NGO delegations having visited 
Washington for meetings at DOD and State, and asked the 
Ambassador to help arrange a similar visit for the BHRWS. 
The Ambassador agreed to pass their request to Washington. 
 
7.  (C) Action Request:  Post understands that private visits 
to GTMO are not permitted.  However, we request guidance for 
an Embassy response to the BHRWS request to meet with DOD and 
State officials in Washington about the Bahraini detainees. 
 
MONROE