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Introduction





Asia

Europe and Central Asia

Middle East and North Africa

Special Issues and Campaigns

United States

Arms

Children’s Rights

Women’s Human Rights

Appendix




The Role of the International Community
Bahrain became a non-permanent member of the Security Council in January, assuming the “Arab seat” for a routine two-year period.

In February the government ratified—with reservations—the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). At the August meeting of the U.N. Sub-Commission, in response to the prospect of a resolution critical of its human rights practices for a second year in a row, Bahrain publicly agreed to a visit by the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and to consider withdrawing its reservation to Article 20 of the CAT, which would allow the Committee against Torture to conduct confidential investigations into allegations of torture in Bahrain in cooperation with the government.

In a note verbale to the U.N. Economic and Social Council, dated October 13, 1997, and released on December 5, 1997, the government asserted that a submission on Bahrain by Human Rights Watch at the March 1997 session of the Commission on Human Rights was “based on information and allegations that are neither credible nor accurate,” but provided no specifics. “The allegations of human rights abuses are directed from propagandists with close ties to terrorist organizations,” the government stated.

The Arab World and Iran
Arab governments did not publicly criticize Bahrain’s human rights policies. A Kuwaiti court in March sentenced five Bahraini opposition figures to prison terms of up to three years and fines of up to 500 Kuwaiti dinars (U.S.$1,640) for possessing leaflets and statements harmful to Kuwait’s relations with Bahrain and, in the case of one defendant, possessing a falsified driver’s permit. Fifteen others Bahrainis arrested in Kuwait at the same time were acquitted and three were convicted in absentia. According to Kuwaitis familiar with the case, Kuwait was responding to pressure from Bahrain to crack down on the flow of remittances from Bahrainis working in Kuwait, some of which, according to the authorities, went to opponents of the government.

Relations with Iran, which Bahrain had previously accused of instigating political unrest, appeared to improve in the wake of better ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran and the March visit to Bahrain of former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, now head of the Expediency Council, an official body established to resolve disputes between the Iranian parliament and Council of Guardians.

The European Union
United Kingdom Foreign Minister Robin Cook, in a January 28 meeting with the Bahraini foreign minister and crown prince, “raised the issue of a dialogue between the Bahraini authorities and the Committee for Popular Petition,” according to government spokesperson Baroness Symonsof Vernham Dean, who further stated that “we have discussed Shaikh al-Jamri’s continuing detention without charge with the Bahraini authorities on a number of occasions. We have called on them to release or charge all those held in detention. We will continue to do so.”

In November 1997, Bahrain announced the State Security Court conviction in absentia of five exiled Bahraini opposition personalities living in London and several others residing in Iran on charges of propagating false news, harming the image of Bahrain abroad, and belonging to an illegal organization seeking to overthrow the government by force. They received prison sentences of up to fifteen years and large fines. Three of the London residents, Ali Salman, Hamza al-Dairi, and Haidar al-Sitri, were forcibly exiled by the Bahraini authorities in January 1995. In July 1998 Britain granted them political asylum and permanent residence. On September 17, Bahrain’s interior minister visited Home Secretary Jack Straw to request the arrest of the five under the terms of the Criminal Justice (Terrorism and Conspiracy) Act just passed by the U.K. Parliament, provisions of which make it a criminal offense to conspire in the U.K. to commit abroad any act which would be an offense in the U.K.

Derek Fatchett, minister of state for foreign affairs with responsibility for the Middle East, wrote in August that the British embassy had made several inquiries to the government of Bahrain concerning the death in custody of Nuh Khalil Abdallah al-Nuh (see above). Fatchett visited Manama on September 14-15, where he said that he had explained the steps taken to tighten further laws “against those conspiring to commit crimes overseas.” He also noted that there was no extradition treaty between Bahrain and the U.K. and that there was “no proposal on the table” for such a treaty.

United States
Bahrain continued to serve as headquarters for the U.S. Fifth Fleet. Bahrain’s importance for U.S. policy in the region was heightened when in January it began a two year term as a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. In its presentation of funding requests to Congress for Fiscal Year (FY) 1999, the administration stated that the U.S. “has a demonstrable and enduring national security interest in maintaining its access to Bahraini military facilities in order to preserve the stability of the Persian Gulf,” and that “Bahrain’s support on the Security Council will be instrumental in advancing the full range of USG foreign policy interests.”

In February, when a confrontation between Iraq and the U.N. Security Council threatened to lead to military attacks by a U.S.-led coalition, the U.S. military presence in Bahrain increased sharply. Bahrain initially indicated it would allow aircraft and naval vessels based on its territory to be used in an attack on Iraq. As the crisis intensified, however, Bahrain followed the lead of Saudi Arabia and retracted this permission.

Bahrain’s ruler, Shaikh Isa, and other top officials visited Washington briefly in early June and met with President Bill Clinton, Secretary of Defense William Cohen, and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. There were no public appearances or press briefings by the amir following any of these meetings, and he did not speak at a private dinner given in his honor by a number of large corporations. U.S. officials told Human Rights Watch that specific human rights concerns were raised with the amir and the foreign minister “at the highest levels,” but provided no details.

Other U.S. officials told Human Rights Watch that while human rights was on the agenda of some embassy meetings with Bahraini government officials, the U.S. seldom raised specific requests or concerns, such as the death in custody of Nuh Khalil Abdallah al-Nuh or the prolonged incarceration without charge of Shaikh al-Jamri.

U.S. Foreign Military Sales and Construction Agreements with Bahrain, which totaled U.S.$54 million in FY 1997, were estimated by the administration at U.S.$318 million for FY 1998 and U.S.$100 million for FY 1999. Commercial U.S. military sales were estimated at U.S.$1.8 million for FY 1998 and U.S.$4.5 million for FY 1999. U.S. support for Bahrain in FY 1998 also included U.S.$250,000 in International Military Education and Training (IMET) funds for training in the U.S. of approximately thirty Bahraini officers.


Countries


Algeria

Bahrain

Egypt

Iran

Iraq

Israel, The Occupied West Bank, Gaza Strip, and Palestinian Authority Territories

Saudi Arabia

Syria

Tunisia


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