Dubai: Abdul Rahman Al Nuaimi was a professor of history at Qatar University. He was also a board member of an Islamic bank and a member of a charity foundation in Qatar, often seen as promoting Muslim Brotherhood ideals.

Al Nuaimi was arrested in 2009 after he pressed the Qatari Consultative Council to oppose co-education at the Qatar University and released three years later.

Al Nuami also headed the “International Campaign Against Aggression”, the movement that is often accused of promoting Islamist agendas.

He is the head of the Council of Al Karama (Dignity), an organisation that claims it seeks to promote human rights. The Council “guides the organisation towards achieving its goals”.

“Al Karama is a Swiss-based, independent human rights organisation established in 2004 to assist all those in the Arab World subjected to, or at risk of, extra-judicial executions, disappearances, torture and arbitrary detention,” the organisation says on its website. “Acting as a bridge between individual victims in the Arab world and international human rights mechanisms, Al Karama works towards an Arab world where all individuals live free, in dignity and protected by the rule of law.”

However, Al Karama is believed to have had an active role in changing regimes and that it fully supported unrest and revolutions in Arab countries, in some cases, as the organisation said, assisting activists and leaders in fomenting them.

Al Nuaimi, who took part in the creation of organisations and research institutes in the Arab World, reportedly said in an interview that the decision to impose a ban on Libya was taken largely based on reports issued by Al Karama.

“Al Karama was the first organisation to go to Libya and draft a report on the situation there,” he said.

In other interviews, officials said that Al Karama had links with several Arab civil society organisations in countries that tolerated the existence of NGOs.

However, in the other countries, Al Karama had close contacts with human rights activists.

“We do the things that they cannot do either for lack of knowledge, legal expertise or financial capabilities,” one Al Karama member said. “We held two training workshops, including one in Geneva, for activists and organisations.”

Al Karama says that it has been supported since its creation by donations from the individual members of the Foundation’s Council.

As of 2007, following a restructuring as a Swiss foundation, the Council began gathering funds from other private donors in the Arab world.