This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAMA 000005 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/28/2015 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM KIRF BA REFORM HUMRIT
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP MAKES FIRST EVER PRISON VISIT 
IN BAHRAIN 
 
Classified By: DCM Susan L. Ziadeh for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary:  A delegation from Bahrain Human Rights 
Society (BHRS), including Deputy Secretary General Dr. 
Abdulla Al-Derazi, has made a visit to Jaw Prison for men, 
representing the first time in Bahrain's history that a human 
rights organization has been allowed access to the prison 
system.  Agreement on access to the prison came after more 
than two years of requests and then months of discussions 
between BHRS and the Ministry of Interior (MOI).  The 
Ministry has granted BHRS unlimited access to the prison 
facilities, administrative staff and prisoners, during a 
series of visits BHRS will conduct.  BHRS expects to release 
their final report on the delegation's visits in two month's 
time.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (C) BHRS Deputy Secretary General Dr. Al-Derazi told 
Poloff December 27 that a team of 15 members of BHRS, 
including medical doctors, psychiatrists, lawyers and 
academics, made the first ever visit to Jaw Prison by a human 
rights organization on December 24.  The team made a second 
visit December 31.  Dr. Al-Derazi described over two years of 
requests to the MOI for access to Bahrain's Jaw Prison for 
men.  BHRS began sending letters to the Ministry in 2003 
requesting meetings with some of Jaw Prison's over 450 
prisoners but received no response to its requests.  BHRS 
featured these unanswered requests in its annual human rights 
report.  In mid-2005 the Ministry communicated to BHRS a 
willingness to discuss the matter, and after several 
meetings, the two sides agreed to parameters for the visits. 
Per the agreement, Dr. Al-Derazi could not discuss details of 
the visit, including prison conditions and allegations of 
mistreatment, until BHRS releases its final report on the 
visits.  He did say, however, that BHRS will not white-wash 
any of its findings.  BHRS anticipates a late February or 
early March 2006 report release date. 
 
¶3.  (C) Dr. Al-Derazi said that the MOI placed no conditions 
on the delegation's visit.  Prison officials permitted BHRS 
members to meet with any of the prisoners they desired, 
including the two prisoners on death row.  In addition to the 
BHRS delegation providing a list of specific individuals with 
whom they wanted to speak, prison officials gave BHRS a list 
of all inmates from which the delegation chose names at 
random.  According to Dr. Al-Derazi, no prisoners were 
off-limits.  BHRS members met privately with approximately 30 
inmates on their first visit and another 40 on their second, 
all out of hearing range of prison guards, so that prisoners 
could talk freely.  Over the course of several weeks, BHRS 
will conduct a series of visits including unannounced visits. 
 After completing its review of Jaw prison, BHRS will request 
access to both the women's prison and to the juvenile 
detention center. 
 
¶4.  (C) Poloff December 28 contacted Graeme Dunkley, 
Australian pastor of Awali Community Church 
(non-denominational), who also visited Jaw Prison December 
24, separately from the BHRS visit.  As a Christian pastor, 
Dunkley's intent was to meet a group of 15 Christian 
prisoners for Christmas.  Jaw Prison has four cell blocks; 
sentence length determines to which block an inmate is 
assigned.  The prison warden is a police colonel whom Dunkley 
described as very accommodating and welcoming.  The warden 
permitted Dunkley to bring in any kind of Christian 
literature, clothing and toiletries for the inmates.  Dunkley 
also said that the warden welcomed contributions of religious 
literature to any of the four libraries housed in each of the 
prison's cell blocks. 
 
MONROE