theresa may – Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy

Theresa May states UK to be “partner of choice” in Gulf, where repression is escalating

Sayed Alwadaei — Wed, 07 Dec 2016 11:00:59 +0000

7 December 2016 – Theresa May’s landmark speech in Bahrain today suggests little real change for the UK-Gulf relationship, with human rights set to take a back seat. Speaking in Manama, Bahrain, at the Gulf Cooperation Council Leaders Summit, Theresa May told Gulf leaders: “I want to leave no-one in any doubt about the scale of my ambition or the extent of my determination to establish the strongest possible trading relationships between the UK and the Gulf.”

While economic and security ties were heavily touted, human rights went unmentioned, and only hinted at, with Mrs May stating: “We in the UK are determined to continue to be your partner of choice as you embed international norms and see through the reforms which are so essential for all of your people.”

She continued: “And this is only possible because the strength of the relationship between our countries, and the respect that we have for each other, enables us to speak frankly and honestly as friends.”

Theresa May is on a two-day visit to Bahrain for the Gulf Cooperation Council Leaders Summit. The summit, an annual meeting of the six Gulf Cooperation Council states – Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar – is this year held in Manama, Bahrain. The Prime Minister was personally invited by King Hamad of Bahrain, who visited Downing Street in October to deliver the invitation. Downing Street issued a statement on Sunday, in which the Prime Minister made brief remarks to human rights. Yet, subsequent government press releases do not repeat the human rights language, instead highlighting the Prime Minister’s desire to “turbo-charge” trade relations with the Gulf.

Her appearance in Bahrain has already proved controversial. Bahrain, a country rocked by Arab Spring protests in 2011, has continued to witness widescale human rights abuses, including the torture, arbitrary detention and unfair trials of pro-democracy protesters and activists.

Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Director of Advocacy, Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy: “Theresa May talks about being the “partner of choice” for reform in the Gulf, but we’ve already seen what that means in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia where the UK has been involved for years. British engagement has meant managing repression instead of ending it, shielding the country from UN probes into its violations, and being silent on the cases of rights campaigners like Nabeel Rajab.

Nabeel Rajab, the leading Bahraini human rights defender, faces up to 16 years in prison on charges related to his free speech, the latest of which was brought against him after he wrote a letter published in the New York Times. His next trial date is 15 December.

Sayed Ahmed continued: “The UK has already helped secure a seat for Saudi Arabia at the UN Human Rights Council and sold weapons which the Saudis have used to bomb schools and hospitals in Yemen. The British government has for years helped sustain repression and impunity in the Gulf under the guise of its partnerships with them, and that looks set to continue under Theresa May’s new vision.”

The UK has already provided over £4.5m worth of technical assistance to Bahrain since 2012. Yet, despite this dedicated support, human rights have deteriorated in the country, and international norms continue unmet. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, the top international expert on the crime, has been blocked repeatedly from entering Bahrain, and has criticised Britain for shielding Bahrain.

In May, the Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan Mendez told Buzzfeed: “They tell everyone, ‘We have an inspectorate of prisons,’ but they won’t invite me. The UK should not be a party to it. [Bahrain dismisses its] critics as pawns of Iran. Bahrain considers itself shielded [from scrutiny] due to its relations with Britain.”

Key Human Rights Issues in Bahrain As Theresa May Visits the Country:

There are eight Bahrainis sentenced to death, many of them convicted following confessions extracted under torture.
- On Sunday 4 December, an appeals court upheld the death sentence and nationality revocation of 3 individuals convicted on terror offences. The defendants allege torture.
- Mohammad Ramadan and Husain Moosa are two individuals sentenced to death in 2014, and who exhausted all legal appeals. Ramadan’s wife wrote a letter to Theresa May, published today here.
- Ramadan’s case was misled upon by Bahrain’s police ombudsman, who ignored complaints of torture submitted to them regarding his case, and who is trained by the the UK via the FCO.

Human rights defenders are under significant threat.
- Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, faces up to 15 years in prison on charges related to his twitter activity. A further charge was brought against him in September in relation to a letter he wrote, published in the New York Times. His next trial hearing is 15 December.
- Leading human rights lawyer Mohammad Al Tajer is similarly facing charges, as are multiple human rights activists. Many of these activists have also faced travel bans, with over 25 banned from travel at various times since June 2016.

Political society is under severe pressure.
- Al Wefaq, the largest political society in the country, was dissolved over the summer and their assets frozen. The society is appealing the decision. In May, a court increased the prison sentence of Al Wefaq’s Secretary General from four years to nine on charges related to his peaceful political activities.

The village of Duraz, pop. 20,000, has been under continued police blockade since June 2016. Police have throttled all traffic in and out, allowing only residents with a Duraz address printed on their national IDs to enter. The internet goes down nightly in Duraz, between 7pm and 1am. These measures have severely affected normal family and business life, with families separated from seeing each other and businesses unable to attract customers. This amounts to a severe restriction of the right to free movement.

In August, five UN experts called on Bahrain to end its “persecution of Shias”.
- The most senior Shia cleric, Sheikh Isa Qassim, was stripped of citizenship in June 2016, rendering him stateless.
- Over 70 Shia clerics have been interrogated and in some cases prosecuted for their criticism of religious freedoms violations. 9 Shia clerics have been sentenced to between 1 and 2 1/2 years for protesting.

Rights Groups to Theresa May: Use Influence to End Repression in Bahrain Visit

Sayed Alwadaei — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 15:04:09 +0000

5 December 2016 – Rights groups are writing to Prime Minister Theresa May ahead of her visit to Bahrain on Tuesday 6 December urging her to raise human rights as she attends the Gulf Cooperation Council Leaders Summit. The groups warn that claims of reform are disingenuous in light of escalating repression and urge her not relegate human rights to the background.

Read the letter.

Downing Street issued a statement on Sunday confirming the visit on Tuesday. Theresa May made a brief reference to human rights in this statement, though subsequent government releases do not repeat the human rights language, instead highlighting the Prime Minister’s desire to “turbo-charge” trade relations with the Gulf.

The summit, an annual meeting of the six GCC states – Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar – is this year held in Manama, Bahrain. The Prime Minister was invited by King Hamad of Bahrain himself, who personally visited Downing Street in October to extend the invitation.

The rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, Reprieve and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), urge Theresa May: “The Bahraini authorities’ orchestrated attack on the rights to free expression, assembly and association, has seriously undermined the prospects of a political solution to Bahrain’s domestic unrest.”

“If your government is serious about its commitment to encouraging reform and dialogue, you should use this influence to press the government of Bahrain to put an immediate stop to this repression.”

In particular, the groups urge the Prime Minister to call for the release of arrested human rights defender Nabeel Rajab. Rajab, who since June 2016 has been held in solitary confinement in police custody, is facing up to 15 years in prison on charges of “insulting a neighbouring state”, “spreading rumours in wartime” and “insulting a statutory body”. These charges relate to his criticism of the humanitarian cost of the war in Yemen, which Bahrain is a participant in, and for his documentation of torture in Bahrain’s Central Jau Prison. He faces another charge of “defaming the state” after he wrote a letter to the New York Times in September 2016.

Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Director of Advocacy, BIRD: “In her last meeting with Bahrain’s King in London, Theresa May failed to speak about human rights abuses and spoke instead of reform in Bahrain, which is simply not happening. If she again fails to speak out on human rights in the Gulf and continued unrest in Bahrain, then it will seem that the Prime Minister’s policies are solely based on financial interests without ethics or morality. Such a policy would be unsustainable and counter-productive and a betrayal of pro-democracy campaigners who languish in prisons for courageously advocating for change.”

Maya Foa, a director of Reprieve, said: “Theresa May must call for the release of innocent death row prisoners in Bahrain, such as Mohammed Ramadan, a father of three who was tortured into making a false confession. The UK government has spent millions training Bahrain’s police, prison guards and watchdogs, and yet these bodies continue to carry out or cover up human rights abuses. Mohammed should be freed to return to his family immediately.”

Since 2012, the UK government has provided technical assistance to Bahrain towards police and judicial reform. However these reforms have stalled, and repression has escalated. Torture, enforced disappearance, arbitrary arrest and unfair trials continue to be the norm in Bahrain, with next to no scope for redress for victims. Since June 2016, the Government of Bahrain has dissolved the largest political party in the country, stripped the citizenship of the country’s most senior Shia cleric, prosecuted human rights activists and prevented them from travel, and placed an entire community under constant police blockade.

Despite these regressions, the UK government shows no sign of changing its support to Bahrain, which it continues to judge has political will for reform. In November, Prince Charles visited Bahrain on the Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s request, where he opened a wing of the new Royal Navy base there, the construction of which has been gifted by the King of Bahrain. While he was there, Ebrahim Sharif, former leader of the National Democratic Action Society, a political party, criticised his visit in an interview with the Associated Press, and was consequently prosecuted for his remarks. Though the charges were later dropped, that case, alongside Nabeel Rajab’s, is emblematic of the disrespect to free speech and human rights in Bahrain, and their impact on the UK-Bahrain relationship.

In June 2016, BIRD conducted an in-depth examination of the UK’s foreign policy in Bahrain, which found it to be “counter-productive” and “unsustainable”.

Read the letter.

Signatories:

Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB)
Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR)
Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD)
Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT)
Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)
English PEN
European Center for Democracy and Human Rights (ECDHR)
Index on Censorship
Human Rights Watch
Redress
Reprieve
Wales PEN Cymru<