Shereen Bushehri, Arab News
MANAMA, 6 February 2005 — A human rights activist called upon the Bahrain government to take a stronger stand in fighting for the rights of the six Bahrainis detained as “enemy combatants” in Guantanamo Bay.
“It is a pity that the fight to seek the freedom — or at least the right to a just trial — for these six men has been largely left to cash-strapped human rights activists,” said Nabeel Rajab.
“Bahrain’s government must take a larger proactive role in bringing the six back home, especially since the Bahraini Interior Ministry stated that there is no evidence that any of them was engaged in terrorist activity,” he added.
Shereen Bushehri, Arab News
MANAMA, 6 February 2005 — A human rights activist called upon the Bahrain government to take a stronger stand in fighting for the rights of the six Bahrainis detained as “enemy combatants” in Guantanamo Bay.
“It is a pity that the fight to seek the freedom — or at least the right to a just trial — for these six men has been largely left to cash-strapped human rights activists,” said Nabeel Rajab.
“Bahrain’s government must take a larger proactive role in bringing the six back home, especially since the Bahraini Interior Ministry stated that there is no evidence that any of them was engaged in terrorist activity,” he added.
Rajab will travel to Washington for a meeting on Feb. 13 with all the lawyers working on the case of the Bahraini and Arab detainees at Guantanamo.
The meeting will mainly focus on reassessing the situation in the light of a recent ruling by a federal judge in a Washington court, giving detainees the right to challenge their imprisonment in court.
“We do understand that the meeting would not lead to an immediate action or release of the Bahrainis because the lawyers are expecting the US government to appeal the ruling,” Rajab said.
The US court said that detainees were entitled to greater protection under the US Constitution and the Geneva Convention. The court also criticized the US government’s definition of the detainees as “enemy combatants” and found that the military tribunal system did not meet the constitution’s standard of protecting the rights of the accused.
The six Bahraini detainees are Juma Mohammed Al-Dossary, Essa Al-Murbati, Salah Abdul Rasool Al-Blooshi, Adel Kamel Hajee, Sheikh Salman ibn Ebrahim Al-Khalifa and Abdulla Majid Al-Naimi.
Lawyers have been acting on their behalf as part of a global effort to provide free legal support to all Guantanamo prisoners.
They were allowed into Guantanamo Bay last October to meet their clients and have since been given access to classified information detailing the alleged reasons for their detention.
The Foreign Ministry also appointed a lawyer earlier last year to act for the six prisoners.