Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2005 - Bahrain

Continued repression of BCHR and its members⁵

Ill-treatment and continued harassment of Messrs. Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and Nabeel Rajab

On 18 May 2005, Mr. Nabeel Rajab, vice-president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights (BCHR), and his family were subjected to harassment following Mr. Rajab's participation in the 34th session of the United Nations Committee against Torture in Geneva (Switzerland) on 11 and 13 May 2005, where he presented an alternative report on torture in Bahrain. In particular, numerous letters and text messages were sent to his home, Bahraini authorities and staff members of his firm, accusing him of "spying" and "treason". Mr. Rajab lodged two complaints for harassment with the Public Prosecutor in June and July 2005. By the end of 2005, none of these complaints had been investigated.

Moreover, on 19 June 2005, the Committee of the Unemployed, created in January 2005 and backed up by BCHR, organised a peaceful rally calling on the King to create jobs. Three days before the demonstration took place, the central police station of the southern district summoned the coordinators of the event trying to intimidate them. On 19 June 2005, demonstrators were severely beaten by the anti-riot police and Mr. Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, BCHR president, who was monitoring the march, sustained several injuries. Demonstrators were then taken to the southern district police station, where they were beaten once again. Although they were released once their identity checked, Mr. Al-Khawaja refused to leave the station and called for an investigation to be carried out into the violence the demonstrators were subjected to. Mr. Al-Khawaja was then taken to the Prosecutor's office to lodge his complaint. According to the Prosecutor, however, the demonstrators were the ones who beat up policemen, both during the rally and at the police station, and the police forces merely reacted in self-defence. One of the police officers even lodged a complaint for "assault and battery".

On 22 June 2005, the Ministry of Labour contacted the Committee of the Unemployed in order to resume negotiations but broke them off again on 27 June 2005, as it refused that the Committee be represented by Mr. Al-Khawaja.

On 15 July 2005, the Committee organised another demonstration, planned to head towards the National Assembly, which had just adopted the national budget 2005-2006 without providing for any social welfare fund for the unemployed and low earners. Twenty-seven demonstrators, including Messrs. Al-Khawaja, Nabeel Rajab and Abbas Al-Omran, a member of the Committee, sustained injuries following police forcible dispersion. The three abovementioned had to be sent to hospital, and Mr. Rajab had to be hospitalised again in September 2005.

In addition, on 8 November 2005, Mr. Al-Khawaja was banned from participating in the Forum for the Future held on 11-12 November 2005 in Manama, Bahrain.⁶ Mr. Al-Khawaja had previously been nominated as a civil society representative for the Forum, along with five other prominent human rights activists of the region at the conference of human rights defenders of the Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) held in Doha (Qatar) on 7-8 November 2005 and entitled: "Civil society human rights dialogue: cooperation strategies between civil society and governments in order to promote and protect human rights".

From 30 November to 14 December 2005, Mr. Al-Khawaja went on a hunger strike to draw the United Nations attention to the situation of human rights defenders in Bahrain.

Mr. Al-Khawaja was further arrested on 5 December 2005 while participating in a peaceful demonstration denouncing police violence against unemployed and their defenders and calling on King Hamad Bin Issa Al Khalifa to fight the ongoing impunity that security forces benefit from. During his one-hour detention at the police station, Mr. Al-Khawaja was subjected to ill-treatment and notably sustained a broken arm. He intended to denounce the ill-treatment suffered by Mr. Mousa Abd Ali, a member of the Committee of the Unemployed, who had been physically assaulted next to his home and sexually abused by security officers in plain-clothes on 27 November 2005. Mr. Abd Ali was also threatened in order to deter him from demonstrating again for the rights of the unemployed in front of the Manama Royal Court. His aggressors also declared that other members of the Committee would be subjected to the same treatment if a march organised by the Committee and scheduled for 29 November 2005, was not called off.

Finally, various clubs, societies and community centres were subjected to constant pressure to dissuade them from inviting Mr. Al-Khawaja as a contributor in their events. A seminar on the "Empowerment of the Disadvantaged" organised by the Alhadada Matam Community Centre was notably cancelled on 24 August 2005, because the Centre had planned to invite Mr. Al-Khawaja. In addition, a vast smear campaign was launched against him on 7 July 2005 in the Gulf Daily News newspaper, who accused him of "supporting violence".

Lack of legal recognition of BCHR

On 29 September 2004, BCHR had been closed down following an order of dismantling issued by the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Mr. Majeed Al-Alawi, who had also threatened the BCHR members to take punitive actions if they were to try to breach the Ministry's order.

On 31 January 2005, the High Civil Court dismissed the civil action filed by BCHR against the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs on 12 October 2004.

On 11 April 2005, BCHR lodged an appeal with the High Civil Court of Appeal to protest against the association's closure. The Court adjourned the hearing on 19 April 2005 and referred the case to the Administrative Court, which also dismissed the appeal on 14 June 2005.

In August 2005, BCHR took the case to the Supreme Court of Appeal. By the end of 2005, the proceedings were still pending.

Furthermore, on 6 January 2005, the BCHR members announced that they would resume their activities in spite of the dissolution order and the sanctions threats. Soon after, members of three committees supported by BCHR – namely: the National Committee for Martyrs and Torture Victims, the Committee of the Unemployed and the National Committee for Adequate Housing – were regularly arrested, summoned and threatened by the police. For instance, Mr. Abdulrauf Al-Shayed, spokesperson for the National Committee for Martyrs and Torture Victims, was summoned on 12 November 2005 for "unauthorised activities".

Infringements of freedom of association⁷

In June 2004, the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU) had lodged a complaint against the Civil Service Bureau, after the Bureau had issued a circular to all ministerial departments prohibiting the creation of unions within the Ministries in January 2003.

On 27 February 2005, the High Civil Court, after having heard the case on four different occasions, declared that this case did not fall within its jurisdiction. This judgement was upheld by the Court of Appeal on 27 September 2005. GFBTU took the case to the Supreme Court of Appeal, where the proceedings were pending by the end of 2005.

Legal proceedings against Mrs. Ghada Jamsheer⁸

In 2005, Mrs. Ghada Jamsheer, president of the Women's Petition Committee (WPC) and of the Bahrain Social Partnership for Combating Violence Against Women, was subjected to judicial harassment. For the past four years, Mrs. Jamsheer has persistently advocated for the reform of Shari'a family jurisdiction in Bahrain and was thus the victim of recurrent smear campaigns and harassment.

In 2002, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs had refused to register WPC, which campaigns in favour of a unified Familly Code, a general reform of the Shari'a Court system, the reinforcement of the Supreme Judicial Council and the retirement of old judges.

On 5 February 2005, WPC members and supporters gathered in front of the Ministry of Justice to denounce discrimination against women. On that occasion, Mrs. Jamsheer called for the General Prosecutor, Mr. Abd Al-Rahman Bin Jabr Al-Khalifa, former head of the State Security Court, to be dismissed.

On 17 April 2005, the General Prosecutor accused Mrs. Jamsheer of "insulting the Shari'a judiciary" and "defamation against a judge", following several petitions and articles issued by WPC from October 2002 and June 2003, charges that carry a sentence up to fifteen years in prison under Article 70 of the Law decree No 47 on Press and Publishing and Article 216 of the Criminal Code. The general prosecution then referred the case to the High Criminal Court and scheduled the first hearing for 4 June 2005.

On 17 April 2005 again, a Shari'a judge lodged a complaint against Mrs. Jamsheer for "abusive language" allegedly held on the phone in the practice of his duties, filed on the basis of Articles n° 2/92 and 2/1/365 of the Criminal Code with the Fifth Lower Criminal Court. A hearing for litigation was appointed for 15 June 2005.

On 19 June 2005, the High Criminal Court decided to drop the charges pressed in the first case for procedural irregularities, as the Law on Press and Publishing provides that proceedings can only be initiated within three months after the incriminated publication (whereas WPC articles dated back to 2002 and 2003). On the same day, the High Criminal Court declared the two other actions did not fall under its jurisdiction and referred the judge's two complaints to the Lower Criminal Court. The hearing was scheduled for 28 December 2005 (decision n° 3/2238/2005/07).

On 15 November 2005, the Prosecutor appealed against these two decisions with the High Court of Appeal and notably demanded the Court to bring the three cases before the High Criminal Court. On 13 December 2005, the Court of Appeal upheld the aforementioned decisions of the High Criminal Court.

On 28 December 2005, the Lower Criminal Court discharged Mrs. Jamsheer for "insulting a judge in the practice of his duties", but did not rule on the charge of "insults over the phone". By the end of 2005, proceedings in this case were thus still pending, in spite of the public request introduced by seven Shari'a judges to drop all charges against Mrs. Jamsheer.

Lastly, the General Prosecutor accused Mrs. Jamsheer of "insulting" the former husband of divorced woman whose case had been handled by WPC, under Articles 2/92 and 2/1/365 of the Criminal Code (case n° 3938/2044). A hearing for litigation was scheduled for 19 June 2005 before the First Lower Court that discharged Mrs. Jamsheer on 28 June 2005.

In addition, Mrs. Jamsheer, who is also a member of the Bahrain Business Women's Society, was subjected throughout the year to recurrent inspections by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, which slandered her activities and threatened to initiate judicial proceedings against her. Mrs. Jamsheer was notably summoned twice in November 2005 by the Ministry for alleged infringements fallaciously reported during inspections of her business firms.

Denial of Bahrain Women's Union registration⁹

Since 2001, 14 associations defending women's rights and duly registered with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, as well as other women's committees and independent activists, have vainly sought to establish the Bahrain Women's Union (BWU).

Whereas BWU submitted a request for registration with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in November 2001, this request remained pending at the end of 2005 in spite of the numerous changes BWU made to its charter in order to conform with the Ministry's demands.

[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]

5. See Annual Report 2004 and Conclusions of the Observatory international fact-finding mission in Bahrain, 25-28 September 2005.

6. The Forum for the Future, which gathered the G-8 member States and the States of the Broader Middle East and North Africa region (BMENA), aims at supporting the political, economic and educational reforms undertaken by BMENA countries.

7. See Annual Report 2004.

8. See Letter to the Bahraini authorities, 2 June 2005, and Conclusions of the above-mentioned international mission.

9. Idem.