Regarding the Claimed Sectarian Plan, the Secret Organization that is Running it, and the Role of the Royal Court and Sectarian Political Groups in Setting and Accomplishing that Plan
(Sent on 13 October 2006)
His Majesty Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain,
We are addressing your Majesty to express the enormity of our shock regarding the dangerous sectarian plan and the existence of a secret organization that is running it, as was revealed by a report published by Dr. Salah Al Bandar, the Strategic Planning’s Chancellor at the Council of Ministers Affairs.
Regarding the Claimed Sectarian Plan, the Secret Organization that is Running it, and the Role of the Royal Court and Sectarian Political Groups in Setting and Accomplishing that Plan
(Sent on 13 October 2006)
His Majesty Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain,
We are addressing your Majesty to express the enormity of our shock regarding the dangerous sectarian plan and the existence of a secret organization that is running it, as was revealed by a report published by Dr. Salah Al Bandar, the Strategic Planning’s Chancellor at the Council of Ministers Affairs.
The significance of this case lies in the direct involvement of a high government official in this plan and in heading the secret organization that is operating it. This official is the Minister of State for the Affairs of Council of Ministers Sheikh Ahmad bin Atiyat Allah Al Khalifa. The same minister heads one of the most crucial departments in the country which is the Central Department of Information, as well as being the direct supervisor of the Civil Services Council which controls the country’s public sector and the fate of approximately 40 thousand employees. In addition, he occupies a position that is related to the most critical side of the political process which is the executive committee that supervises the elections. That is during a period of wide suspicions and worries of counterfeiting the desires of the participants in the coming elections.
As your majesty knows… a significant amount of documented information came in the 240 pages of payments that were estimated to be more than 2 million B.D were given to government employees, personalities in the local newspapers, members of the Council of Representative, parliament candidates, civil society associations, lawyers, bank employees, a Jordanian investigation team (consisting of 4 officers with a lieutenant colonel rank and an officer with a major rank) and a member of the Shura council.
Five of the main people in this secret organization work in the government and are paid inducements that are estimated to be 5000 B.D a month. These five leaders are in charge of financing election campaigns, supporting one of the new-established daily local newspapers with a sum of 100 thousand B.D, supporting the program of the sectarian transmission, intelligently supervising political activities, leading an Internet campaign to rouse sectarianism as well as distributing monthly inducements to a number of people.
The report also named four civil society associations involved in this plan (the Jurists’ Society, the “Bahrain First” Society, the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society, the Bahrain Political Society). A sum of 3000 B.D was set aside for a member of the current Council of Representatives from one of the Islamic blocs, 2000 B.D for one of the known parliament candidates and 3000 B.D for the society’s building.
Hence, the most crucial amongst the information that was revealed by the report is that which suggests an essential role of high officials in the Royal Court in vital parts of this plan. The secret plan included, in its most important articles, the manipulation of the demographic makeup of the country, by granting citizenship selectively, with the pretext of creating a sectarian balance and with the aim of weakening a certain sect of the society. And this is what has been going on; especially in the last few years and which has been raising increasing opposition and protest. While, we know that the regular naturalization decisions are not issued without the approval of the Royal Court, and the selective naturalization is not carried out without using the extraordinary authority which the law grants to your Majesty.
On the other hand, the information part of the sectarian plan appears in the Al Watan newspaper, which persisted in rising sectarian sedition. Al Watan is supervised and partially funded by the Under Secretary Assistant in the office of the Chief Director of the Royal Court. The report stated that the mentioned Under Secretary Assistant is related to the naturalization committee in the Royal Court. In addition, the information consultant of the Chief Director of the Royal Court is the supervisor of the information group in the secret organization, as well as being in charge of the affairs of the Chief Editor of the Al Watan newspaper.
The report also states the name of a an Egyptian journalist who works in the Royal Court at same time as being the field supervisor of the “Egyptian” information group which was formed by the secret organization, and a center was established for its activities. The “Egyptian” information group are 8 people who work for the Al Watan newspaper, the Ministry of Information, the Central Department of Information and for the “Centre of Public Opinion” which was also established by the same secret organization.
Furthermore, regarding the lands that were granted to participants in that dangerous secret organization, it is a regulation that they could not be granted without the Royal Court’s approval. As an example of these lands is the land in Al Seef district and whose price is estimated to be more than half a million B.D. which is registered under the name of the president of “Bahrain Awallan Society”, which was established as apart of the same plan.
Thus, the important question still lies without an answer: Who is putting all these large sums of money in the Kuwaiti Bayt-Al-Tamweel account, which is transferred to an account at the Al-Shamel Bahraini Bank, through which the plan and the secret organization is funded and the wages and bonuses are paid to executive officials? It is worth mentioning that Sheikh Ahmad bin Atyat-Allah, the minister accused of leading the secret organization, is the brother of Sheikh Mohammed bin Atyat-Allah Al Khalifa, the chief director of the Royal Court.
What makes the report create a lot of uproar is that the 5 main persons in the secret organization, and who are influential in the government and in the Royal Counrt, are amongst the persons who are adherent to the Islamic Brotherhood and Salafi organizations which gives the case a dangerous political and sectarian characteristic. According to the report, the right hand of the leader of the secret organization, who is the manager of the statistics department in the Central Department of Information and a member in the executive committee of the elections, does not hide his sympathy for the Al Eslah society and its political wing the Islamic Menbar.
As to the left hand of the leader of the secret organization, who is the General President of the Information Technology and the Vice-President of the Executive Committee of the elections, is known to be related to the same society. The report gives documented information that this person is directly responsible for the message campaign which spread widely few months ago in order to ruin the reputation of recognized religious men, activists, politicians, oppositions and human rights defenders. Yet, the third person who is in charge of the secret organization, who is the chancellor for information affairs of the chief director of the Royal Cour, is the former chief editor of Al Elslah (brotherhood) magazine.
While the fourth person in charge of the group, who is an employee in the Central Department of Information, is fully engaged in the activities of the Islamic Education Society as a manager of its projects and social affairs and it is supplementary to the Islamic Asalah Society (Salafist). He is incharge in the secret organization of the group that incites the Sunni sect against the Shi’a sect. Finally, the fifth person in charge in the network, the Under-Secretary of the Chief Director of the Royal Court, who supervises the project of the Al Watan newspaper, is strongly related to the Salafi movements in Bahrain and in the Arab Gulf states.
What rises great concerns is that the report, which is the source of the aforementioned information, had reached your Majesty and the prime minister since the beginning of the September 2006, and instead of starting a neutral interrogation in its contents and publicly questioning the persons involved and bringing them to justice, harsh measures were taken against the government chancellor who leaked the dangerous information by confiscating documents and information he had and deporting him instantly from the country on September 13th 2006.
We as citizens of this country, who belong to various classes, political drifts and sects, address this letter to your majesty appealing to you to give a public speech to the common citizens to answer all those dangerous queries and to announce what will be done in regards to that sectarian plan and secret organization that is implementing it. We fear that keeping quiet about that case and the people involved in it will destroy what is left of trust between the regime and the citizens and it will create hateful sectarian discord, and this is something that no loyal citizen of this country would wish for.
Yours Sincerely,
Signatories:
- Abdul-Hadi Marhoon – First Vice-President of the Representative Council
- Ali Jassim Rabi’a – A former parliamentarian – Board member of ‘Haq Movement’
- Zahraa Mohammed Muradi (Ms.) – Political activist
- Layla Khalil Dishti (Ms.) – Human rights activist
- Sheikh Isa Al-Jawdar – Board member of ‘Haq Movement’
- Jalal Fairouz – Board member – Alwefaq National Islamic Society
- Abdul-Nabi Salman – Member of the House of Representatives
- Hasan Ali Hasan Mushemea – Secretary-general of ‘Haq Movement’
- Jassim Hasan Abdul-Aal – Member of the House of Representatives
- Jawad Firouz Ghlum Firouz – Member of the Northern Municipality Council
- Abdul-Hadi Abdula Al-Khawaja – President- Bahrain Centre for Human Rights
- Abdul-Jalil Al-Sangais – Board member of ‘Haq Movement’
- Abdul-Aziz Hasan Abul – Political activist- Head of Constitution Coalition
- Ghada Yousif Jamsheer (Ms.) – President of the ‘Women Petition Committee’
- Mohammed Abdul-Nabi Al-Masqati – President of the ‘Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights’
- Nabeel Rajab – Vice-President of the ‘Bahrain Centre for Human Rights’
- Ahmad Sultan – Bahrain Centre for Human Rights
- Khalid Shehab – Independent Activist
- Mohammed Hajji Al-Shehabi – The Brotherhood National Society
- Redhwan Al-Mousawi – Board member – ‘Islamic Action Society’
- Jawad Al-Asfoor – The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights
- Abbass Ahmad Al-Bahari – The Democratic Progressive Forum Society
- Abbass Busafwan – Alwefaq National Islamic Society
- Abdul-Amir Al-Laith – Alwefaq National Islamic Society
- Abdul-Nabi Al-Ukri – Bahrain Human Rights Society
- Ebrahim Kamal-Eddeen – National Democratic Action Society (Waad)
- Abdul-Rahman Mohammed Al-Naimi – National Democratic Action Society (Waad)
- Sheikh Hamza Ali Jassim – Alwefaq National Islamic Society
- Ali Nasser Al-Ghanami – Alwefaq National Islamic Society
- Jassim Abdullah Ashoor – Independent Activist
- Mohammed Ahmad – Independent Activist
- Ahmad Al-jad – Independent Activist
- Ali Saleh Abdulla – Independent Activist
- Mahmood Ebrahim – Alwefaq National Islamic Society
- Haytham Al-Shehabi – Independent Activist
- Sayed-Hadi Jawad Al-Aali – Board member of ‘Haq Movement’
- Sonya Taher (Ms.) – Head of the ‘Deprived of the Citizenship’ Committee
- Sayed-Jafar Sayed-Kadhem Al-Alawi – President of the ‘Islamic Resala Society’
- Abdulla Mohammed Janahi – Vice-President of the central committee in the National Democratic Action Society
- Sanad Mohammed Sanad – Member of the Consultative Panel of the National Democratic Forum Society
- Hasan Al-Aali – The National Democratic Forum Society
- Mahmood Hmaidan – The National Democratic Forum Society
- Abdul-Jalil Al-Nuaimi – The Democratic Progressive Forum Society
- Hasan Ali Ismaeel – The Democratic Progressive Forum Society
- Hafedh Ali Mohammed – National Democratic Action Society (Waad)
- Nawal Zubari (Ms.) – National Democratic Action Society (Waad)
- Fawzia Zenal (Ms.) – Transparency Society
- Najeeba Ahmad (Ms.) – National Democratic Action Society (Waad)
- Jafar Yousif Mohammed – National Democratic Action Society (Waad)
- Mohammed Al-Ahmad – Journalist
- Batool Al-Sayyed (Ms.) – Journalist
- Nada Al-Wadi (Ms.) – Reporter
- Malek Abdulla – Journalist
- Ismael Mohammed Ali – Independent Activist
- Mohammed Hasan Mohammed Jawad – Alwefaq National Islamic Society
- Yousif Al-Muharaqi – Independent Activist
- Amir Al-Shakhouri – The Democratic Progressive Forum Society
- Hajji Ebrahim Buhajji – Independent Activist
- Maki Mahdi Ayad – The Democratic Progressive Forum Society
- Abd Al-Aziz Ebrahim Fakhroo – National Democratic Action Society (Waad)
- Hasan Ahmad Mahmood – Independent Activist
- Ja’far Ebrahim Al-Wedaee – The Democratic Progressive Forum Society
- Mohammed Kadhem Abdul-Hussain Al-Shehabi – Columnist – political activist
- Hasan bin Hamad Al-Hadad – Human rights activist
- Hussaain Mohammed Hasan Jawad – Vice-President -‘Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights’
- Abd Al-Kareem Mohsen – Political activist
- Ahmad Amr-Allah Fath-Allah – Shura Council-Alwefaq National Islamic Society
- Ali Salem Al-Orayyedh – Head of Legal Committee- Public Liberties Society
- Nasser Mulla Hasan Zain – Journalist
- Jalal Abdul-Wahab Al- Orayyedh – Artist
- Fawzia Rabia (Ms.) – Head of “Partenership to Compat Violance Against Women”
- Abdul-Rahman Mohammed Khalifa – Physician
- Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahlawi – Physician
- Abdulla Al-Durazi – Vice Secretary-General – Bahrain Society for Human Rights
- Sayed-Adnan Jalal Ahmad – Bahrain Society for Human Rights
- Resala Salman Ali (Ms.) – Member in the ‘Public Liberties Society’
- Rasha Ali Al- Kooheji – Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights
- Mohammed Jafar Hasan Al-Mutawa – Lawyer- Bahrain Society for Human Rights
- Abdulla Rashed Mutaiwea – Public relations employee
- Khalil Ahmad – Independent Activist
- Mohammed Jassim Isa Al-Durazi – Engineer- Independent Activist
- Jafar Saad Hasan – Businessman
- Adnan Ebrahim Maaraj – Retired employee
- Ramla Jawad – Human Rights activist
- Sayed-Hussain Hashem Ahmed – Trade-unionist
- Zaynab Abdunabi Hassan Jassim – Journalist
- Muhsen Al-Muqdad – The Committee for Victims of Torture
- Abdul-Ghani Khanger – The Committee for Victims of Torture
- Fatma Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja – Human rights activist
- Sabika Ali Abdula Al-Bin-ali – Women Petition Committee
- Khulood Abdulla Jamsheer – Women Petition Committee
- Suaad Fath-Allah Mohammed Ahmad – Women Petition Committee
- Salwa Buchiri – Women Petition Committee
- Elham Al-Ansari – Activist
- Maheen Ahmad Nadhar Mohammed – Women Petition Committee
- Mohammed Abbas Al-Shaikh – Member of the House of Representatives
- Abbas Abdul Azeez Nasser – Haq Movement
- Zaynab Al-Durazi – National Democratic Action Society (Waad)
- Shaikh Mohammed Habib Al-Muqdad – Clergyman
- Shaikh Mirza Al-Mahroos – Clergyman
- Shaikh Hani Al-Muqdad – Clergyman