Bahrain Human Rights Society
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The Bahrain Human Rights Society was set up in 2002 following wide ranging political reforms by the Bahraini government to allow the functioning of independent human rights groups. It is the main human rights group in Bahrain, and while several of its members are associated with the main Leftist opposition group, the National Democratic Action, the Society is generally respected for its professionalism. The Society's leadership, including president Dr Sabika Al Najjar and vice president Salman Kamaluddin, were former political prisoners and exiles who returned to Bahrain in 2001.
The Society produces an annual report on human rights in the Kingdom, liaises with international organisations and carries out human rights activism in the Kingdom. It has worked with international human rights organisations including the controversial American group, Freedom House. The Society was charged with organising the parallel conference of Arab NGOs during the G8 Summit on Middle East reform, the Forum for the Future 2005, held in Bahrain in November 2005.
On 24 December 2005, the Society became the first NGO in the Arab world to carry out a prison inspection when it visited Jaw prison. The party visiting Jaw included activists, doctors, and psychiatric nurses with the purpose at examining the facilities, the treatment of prisoners and looking for any signs of abuse. [1]
Summarising Bahrain's human rights situation in November 2005, leading activist and former exile Abdulnabi Al Ekri stated:
I was in exile and now I am back in my country saying what I believe without hesitation. The best thing is we can organise in this space. It doesn't make me satisfied or content to say "everything is okay", but it doesn't mean I can deny the positive changes that have been made. Redress needs to be made for the past and reforms need to be made concrete.[2]
[edit] Criticism
The Society has come in for considerable criticism from Islamists for its backing for women's rights, particularly over the introduction of a unified personal law. The Islamist front organisation, the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, has continually criticised the Society as part of a general attack on secular groups such as women's rights activists, trade unionists and the Left. The wrangle between the Society and the Centre heated up in March 2006, when the Society's Abdulnabi Al Ekri accused the Centre's Nabeel Rajab and Islamist leader Abduljalil Singace of being motivated by 'personal gain'[3]. In response, Mr Al Ekri was threatened with legal proceedings by Mr Singace[4], which if pursued could have seen Mr Al Ekri imprisoned under Bahrain's penal code. While the Centre had in the past long publicly objected to the libel laws, it made no public comment on Mr Singace's threatened action against Mr Al Ekri.
