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The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights is a Bahraini non-governmental organisation closely associated with the Islamic Action Society , a small radical Islamist party in Bahrain that was formed by members of the Iranian-backed Islamic Front For The Liberation Of Bahrain following their return from exile. The role of the BCHR is to allow the Islamic Action Society to criticize Bahrain’s government and liberals in civil society without having to declare its own agenda. As such many of the members of the BCHR have close links with the Islamic Action Society: its President, Abdulhadi Khawaja, is the brother of Salah Khawaja, who is the Vice President of the Islamic Action Society; Layla Dashti sits on the board of both the BCHR and the Islamic Action Society. Several members were exiled in Iran , while other activists such as Zainab Al Khawaja has used her blog to express 'admiration' for 'great man' Ayatollah Khomeini (see comments) and deny human rights abuses by the Iranian government. The Centre’s main tactic against the Bahraini government is to keep issues of past human rights abuses before Sheikh Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa became King on the public agenda to weaken the credibility of the political reforms begun in 2001. As such the Centre frequently attends international forums and other events as a ‘human rights group’, where they also raise the other related issues such as unemployment and discrimination. The other target of the Centre are the Islamists' leftist and secular opponents. The Centre has a long running feud with the Bahrain Human Rights Society , an NGO closely identified with the left-wing opposition group, the National Democratic Action . The Centre has stated that the BHRS is not confrontational enough in its approach, inferring that it has cut a deal with the government. In September 2005, the Centre turned its attention towards Bahrain's women’s rights activists and Trade Unionists who were criticised for not doing enough to assist abused foreign maids. In response, liberals noted that while women's activists were being condemned, the Centre failed to speak out against religious extremist clerics whose use of language had been blamed for providing legitimacy for the sexual abuse of house maids. Similarly, it has been pointed out that the Centre has been conspicuously absent in condemning violence by supporters of Shia Islamist parties, such as when rioters beat up people queueing to attend an 'immoral' Nancy Ajram concert in 2003 or when Islamists firebombed a restaurant selling alcohol in 2004. The Centre has been at the forefront of an Islamist campaign in 2005 to prevent the introduction of a single codified family law as campaigned for by women's rights groups such as the Supreme Council For Women , as well as Amnesty International . The women's rights activists argued that a single law based on universal precepts of human rights was the only way to protect women in divorce, custody of children and inheritence. However, the Centre argued that any new legislation must respect the rights of 'religious communities' {Link without Title} , a stance that has been criticised as standing in contrast to human rights norms which give primacy to individual rights over group rights. Moreover, it was pointed out that by introducing the concept of 'religious communities', in practical terms this would implicitly mean giving power to those considered the leaders of these communities, ie clerics. The Bahrain Human Rights Society 's Abdulnabi Al Ekri said "Activists like Nabeel Rajab and Abdul Jalil Singace (of Shia Islamist Al Haqq) have made us lose our focus and many important national issues have been stalled because of their own agendas. We really need to work together as a nation for common benefit, and not against one another for personal gains." {Link without Title} After Abdulhadi Khawaja appeared on Hezbollah 's Al Manar TV on 12 March 2006 to allege that the Bahrain government had abducted two missing girls, who were in fact staying with relatives, the girls' family expressed their "exasperation" at his spreading of false information about the family The girls' cousin, Fadhel Hussain, said "I don't know where he got this information from. He claims to be a human rights activist but he has hurt us and failed to respect our human rights"[http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/1yr_arc_Articles.asp?Article=137955&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=28358&date=3-13-2006 . In September 2004 Abdulhadi Al Khawaja , the president of the Centre publicly accused the Prime Minister of the country (the uncle of reigning King Hamad Ibn Isa Al-Khalifah ) of widespread corruption and issued a du'ah (the Shia equivalent of a Fatwa ) calling for 'Allah take his soul' at a seminar about poverty. The next day Al Khawaja was arrested and the Centre was banned by the government. This sparked several large anti-government demonstrations in Bahrain and widespread condemnation of the government from several international human rights bodies. In November 2005 the court sentenced Al Khawaja to one year in prison on charges which included "inciting hatred" and accusing the authorities of corruption, under provisions prescribed by the 1976 Penal Code . However, later on the same day, 'Abdul Hadi al-Khawaja was released after the King, issued a decree which exempted him from spending the rest of his sentence in prison. Although the Centre is no longer official recognized by the government, it continues to work as before. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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