Gulf Daily News – 8 March 2006
A BAHRAIN human rights group has lost an appeal against its dissolution by the old Labour and Social Affairs Ministry, it was announced yesterday.
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) must also foot the bill for the court proceedings.
However, members of the BCHR said the ruling was “no surprise” and vowed to continue their work regardless of the Court of Cessation verdict yesterday.
“Human rights work today is not a shop that you can close,” said vice-president Nabeel Rajab.
“It’s a movement and a culture that already existed before the centre was formed and will remain.”
Gulf Daily News – 8 March 2006
A BAHRAIN human rights group has lost an appeal against its dissolution by the old Labour and Social Affairs Ministry, it was announced yesterday.
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) must also foot the bill for the court proceedings.
However, members of the BCHR said the ruling was “no surprise” and vowed to continue their work regardless of the Court of Cessation verdict yesterday.
“Human rights work today is not a shop that you can close,” said vice-president Nabeel Rajab.
“It’s a movement and a culture that already existed before the centre was formed and will remain.”
The BCHR was dissolved on September 28, 2004 for allegedly breaching the 1989 Societies law.
Twelve lawyers launched an appeal against the centre’s closure, which followed a seminar on poverty organised by the BCHR at the Al Oruba Club, in Juffair.
Mr Rajab said the BCHR only agreed to be licensed under the societies law in 2002 because previous labour and Social Affairs Minister Abdulnabi Al Sho’ala promised a law to protect human rights organisations was in the pipeline.
“When we started the BCHR we knew there was no law in Bahrain to cover a human rights society, and until today Bahrain doesn’t have a law which covers human rights organisations,” he said.
“We had a discussion with Abdulnabi Al Shoala in 2002. “We said to him that we want to start the centre, but we don’t want to exist under the law for charities, societies and clubs.
“The minister at that time advised us to form the centre under the existing law in order to grant it legitimacy and said there would be a law passed soon.
“He also guaranteed the law would not be implemented against us – and based on his promises we registered under the law.
“But what has happened is that the societies law has been executed against the BCHR – and until today we still don’t have a law for human rights organisations.”
Mr Rajab said the obligation to pay legal fees was a procedural move and should not cost members more than BD100.
He added that the court case was filed based on requests by international organisations. “We took this case to court based on the demands of a few international organisations – one of them was Amnesty International – to see the proceedings of the case,” he said.
“For international human rights bodies, the case was a chance to test and examine the independence of the judiciary in Bahrain and to see how the societies law has been implemented.
“And today, we are not surprised because the court ruling was made based on a law that is internationally condemned by many organisations, including the UN.
“We were not surprised because the judiciary is under the umbrella of the executive branch of the government.
“The administrative act of the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry and the agreement of the court will for sure not help a country that is setting itself up as a model for democracy in the region. “I’m sure it will not help Bahrain’s reputation.”