Ahmed bin Ateyatalla Al Khalifa

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Shaikh Ahmed bin Ateyatalla Al Khalifa is the Minister of Cabinet Affairs for Bahrain and the head of the Central Informatics Organization. He is a member of the Al Khalifa royal family of Bahrain.

In September 2006, he was implicated in the Bandargate scandal, accused of leading and financing a secret organization of government officials, with the aim of marginalizing Bahrain's Shia community, economically, politically and socially.

According to Dr Salah al-Bandar, the whistleblower, Shaikh Ahmed paid five main operatives a total of more than $2.7 million to run:

  • a secret intelligence cell spying on Shi’as
  • ‘GONGOs’ – government operated bogus NGOs like the ‘Bahraini Jurists Society’ and the ‘Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society’
  • internet forums and websites that foment sectarian hatred
  • subsidisation of ‘new converts’ from Shia Islamic sect to the Sunni sect
  • payments for election rigging

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