In a Violation to Freedom of Opinion and Expression – A Threat to the Largest Political Society in Bahrain
For its Demand to Guarantee the Rights of Citizens in Choosing their Government and Equal Access to Public Office
February 2010
In a Violation to Freedom of Opinion and Expression – A Threat to the Largest Political Society in Bahrain
For its Demand to Guarantee the Rights of Citizens in Choosing their Government and Equal Access to Public Office
February 2010
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights expresses its great concern regarding the increasingly deteriorating situation of freedom of opinion and expression in Bahrain, represented this time in the attack and constant threats of senior government officials, on top of them the Crown Prince, Prime Minister and Minister of Justice – who are all from the King’s family – against the Wefaq Political Opposition Society which is considered the largest political society in the country, and which has 17 of a total of 40 MPs, due to the statement of its Secretary-General, Sheikh Ali Salman, and his demand in the latest General Assembly of the Society of the necessity of the circulation of power and to put an end to the privileges enjoyed by the members of the King’s family in the senior positions in the country. This case clearly reveals the Bahraini citizens deprivation of their right to form their government, and the discrimination between the citizens in holding public posts, and utilizing the Bahraini authorities for the political society’s law in limiting freedom of opinion and expression, and restricting peaceful political activity. The BCHR had been subjected to a similar campaign in 2003 by senior governing officials and was threatened with closure due to publishing a documented report about more than 100 individuals from the King’s family holding the most important political, military, security, judicial and financial posts in the country, and which demanded to put an end to the privileges enjoyed by the members of the King’s family, and the sectarian discrimination in holding senior posts in the State.
Sheikh Ali Salman – Secretary-General of Wefaq Society – had spoke of in his speech he gave in the conference of the Society, held on 18th and 19th February 2010, of the necessity of reforming the political regime in Bahrain in order to reach an actual constitutional monarchy where the King is for the current ruling family – Al-Khalifa – and where the governance is for the people, by forming an elected government and having a peaceful circulation of the executive power, while stressing the importance of choosing a prime minister that does not necessarily belong to the ruling family, and is from the people. It also addresses discrimination practiced by the state institutions and which is evident in monopolizing the presidency of ministries, and the presidency of the large bodies and corporations for the benefit of the members of the ruling family. It also indicated the necessity of the presence of a modern constitution that legislates an actual separation of powers by means of free and integral elections and evenhanded distribution of electoral districts.
The Council of Ministers suggested its intention of using the political society’s law – which the Wefaq Society is subjected to – to legally pursue the Society. The Council of Ministers and the Shura Council – appointed by the King – and some MPs, newspapers and article writers affiliated with the Authority condemned what was said in the speech of the Secretary-General of the Islamic National Accord Association (Wefaq), Sheikh Ali Salman, in the general conference of the Society without referring to its content. This intensified campaign was coincided with threats by the Minister of Justice to pursue the Society; and the Minister of Culture and Information, Sheikha Mai Al-Khalifa, member of the ruling family, contacted the editors of newspapers and some correspondents of news agencies and asked them not to publish any responds of Wefaq Society to this continuous campaign against it, so there does not seem to be any disagreement or conflict between Wefaq Society which represents 62% of the electoral bloc on one hand and the King and his family on the other hand.
This process of restriction happens despite the fact that the Islamic National Accord Association (Wefaq) had received overwhelming support in the results of the 2006 elections, representing the largest parliamentary bloc, made up of 17 MP who represent 62% of the elector’s votes – in the Bahraini Council of Representatives, after the Society accepted to enter the political process in October 2005 by reregistering the Society under the umbrella of the Society’s law, which led to a split in the Society at that time. However, all that was no excuse for the Authority who is still indulged in humiliating and pursuing its members and ruining the reputation and challenging its movements, and stigmatizing it as sectarian through the media which it controls. On 30 March 2004, the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs threatened to close down the Society if it continues in its campaign in demanding constitutional reform, and in the subsequent month, several members of the Society were arrested for initiating a petition for the same abovementioned aim. During 2008, two of the Society’s representatives in the Council of Representatives were subjected to the threat of imprisonment by the Minister of Interior – who is a member of the ruling family – due to their participation in the conference against discrimination in Geneva and a press conference in the U.S Congress in Washington D.C. Some of the Society’s members, every now and then, are also subjected to being banned from entering neighbouring countries, which is stirred by the Bahraini Security Apparatuses.
The BCHR believes that the attack faced by Wefaq and the supporting societies as a national action society, in addition to preventing local newspapers from publishing statements issued by political societies opposing the Authority, reflects the restlessness of the Authority and its inability to receive criticism which is also a clear violation of Article (19) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – endorsed by Bahrain – which recommends, “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice.” Stressing the importance of the government’s adherence to the international covenants it endorsed in the field of human rights.
Based on the above, the Bahrain Center for Human Rights demands the Bahraini Authorities:
1. To put an end to the attack against Al Wefaq and the supporting societies, and to allow freedom of opinion and expression as a fundamental right of human rights to individuals and groups;
2. To abolish the restricted political society’s law and to launch the freedom of political party work as a prerequisite to political rights work, as mentioned in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
3. To guarantee the rights of citizens in choosing their government, and to guarantee the equal access to public office as stated in the international covenants adhere to by Bahrain.
