Manam: Abdullah Al Durazi, the activist who resigned from his position as secretary general of a society following row with members over a press statement, is back at the helm of Bahrain's oldest human rights organisation.
With the deadline for the Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS) board elections ending on Saturday evening, and no candidate signing up his or her name to compete against Al Durazi, he is the de facto new secretary general for the new two-year term.
Al Durazi resigned last month after he questioned references to alleged torturers in a report on the human rights situation in Bahrain prepared by the New York based Human Rights Watch.
Even though he actively participated in the research and drafting of the report, Al Durazi one day after the publication of the report said that he did not agree with all the interior ministry names mentioned by the co-authors.
His comment was badly received by activists and political societies that had hailed the report as conclusive evidence of the "revival of torture" in Bahrain.
Interior ministry officials disputed the findings and accused HRW of rushing to publish the report without including their views, while the foreign minister said that Bahrain would look into the allegations.
"The Government will now be examining the allegations raised within the report and its findings to ensure that Bahrain continues to meet international best practice in support of human rights," Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa said. "If, during the course of this examination, it can be established that any events have occurred that are not in accordance with the law and international conventions, then these matters will be passed to the appropriate authorities to allow necessary action to be taken."
The society said that Al Durazi spoke in his personal capacity and that his views did not represent them.
Following a board meeting, BHRS said that Al Durazi resigned after he realised he made a mistake by making a statement in which he said that some of the officers named and shamed as torturers in a report by Human Rights Watch were in fact innocent.
Al Durazi however did not leave the society and remained an active member until the elections.
He denied claims that the society wanted him to get back the secretary general position by not fielding candidates against him.
BHRS was set up in 2002 and was initially chaired by Dr Sabika Al Najjar as president and Salman Kamaluddin as vice president, two 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. It was tasked with supervising the parliamentary and municipal elections in 2002 and 2006 and helped organise 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.
In December 2005, BHRS 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
