{"id":4334,"date":"2011-12-20T11:23:52","date_gmt":"2011-12-20T18:23:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=4334"},"modified":"2011-12-20T11:23:52","modified_gmt":"2011-12-20T18:23:52","slug":"hrw-end-takeover-of-lawyers%e2%80%99-group-revoke-order-canceling-election-results","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=4334","title":{"rendered":"HRW – End Takeover of Lawyers\u2019 Group Revoke Order Canceling Election Results"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bahrain: End Takeover of Lawyers\u2019 Group Revoke Order Canceling Election Results<\/strong>
\nDecember 20, 2011 – HRW<\/p>\n

It seems that adding “human rights” to its name has only made this ministry more brazen in violating international standards for freedom of association. The ministry should immediately revoke its order and allow the members of the lawyers\u2019 society to elect their officers without the heavy hand of the state.
\nJoe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch<\/p>\n

(New York) \u2013 Bahraini authorities should immediately revoke an order canceling the results of the election for the Bahraini Lawyers\u2019 Society\u2019s governing board, Human Rights Watch said today.<\/p>\n

The Lawyers\u2019 Society, the official professional body for lawyers, held an election for new board members on November 26, 2011. Fatima al-Balooshi, minister of Human Rights and Social Development, issued an order on November 30 canceling the election results and reinstating the previous board and president to manage the affairs of the society for the coming six months. The ministry, which prior to June 20 had been called the Ministry of Social Development, has jurisdiction over civil society organizations in Bahrain under Law 21\/1989. In its letter justifying the decision, the ministry said that the society \u201cdid not comply with the legal procedures.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems that adding \u2018human rights\u2019 to its name has only made this ministry more brazen in violating international standards for freedom of association,\u201d said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. \u201cThe ministry should immediately revoke its order and allow the members of the lawyers\u2019 society to elect their officers without the heavy hand of the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

The association\u2019s annual election of officers was originally scheduled for April. The society postponed its election until November because the government imposed a state of emergency in March following pro-democracy demonstrations that started in mid-February.<\/p>\n

Hameed al-Mulla, the newly elected president of the society, whose election was annulled by the ministry\u2019s order, told Human Rights Watch that the ministerial order reinstated the board members and president who had been elected in 2009 for a six-month period. Al-Mulla, vice president during the previous term, said that five out of seven of the previous board members reject the ministry\u2019s decision to reinstate them.<\/p>\n

Al-Mulla said that the election had been held in accordance with both the society\u2019s bylaws and government regulations, and that the society had notified the ministry of the election two weeks before holding its general assembly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ministry refused to accept the notification letter when we tried to deliver it in person, so we sent it via special mail and received confirmation it had been delivered,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Representatives of the Bahrain Human Rights Society monitored the election, in which 85 eligible members elected the new board members, al-Mulla said.<\/p>\n

In an earlier letter to the society, sent on November 23, the ministry asked for documentation to verify the membership of 135 of the group\u2019s approximately 200 members, including the lawyer the ministry later reinstated to manage the society for the coming six months, al-Mulla and another member of the society told Human Rights Watch.
\n…more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Bahrain: End Takeover of Lawyers\u2019 Group Revoke Order Canceling Election Results December 20, 2011 – HRW It seems that adding “human rights” to its name has only made this ministry more brazen in violating international standards for freedom of association. The ministry should immediately revoke its order and allow the members of the lawyers\u2019 society more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247],"tags":[2220],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4334"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4334\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}