VZCZCXRO0241
RR RUEHDE RUEHDIR
DE RUEHMK #0084 0431427
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 121427Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY MANAMA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8435
INFO RUEHZM/GULF COOPERATION COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 0321
RHBVAKS/COMUSNAVCENT
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL

UNCLAS MANAMA 000084 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP, DRL, AND NEA/ARP 
BAGHDAD FOR AMBASSADOR ERELI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KTIP PHUM KCRM BA
SUBJECT: BAHRAIN'S FIRST TIP CONVICTION 
 
REF: 08 MANAMA 777 
 
¶1. (SBU) Bahrain's Public Prosecution reported to us on 
January 20 that Arfa Ching, a Thai national, was convicted on 
one count of trafficking in persons on December 23.  The 
three-judge panel sentenced her to three and a half years' 
imprisonment and fined her BD 5,000 (USD 13,250).  MFA 
Undersecretary Abdulaziz bin Mubarak Al Khalifa, who chairs 
the GOB's interagency anti-TIP committee, confirmed the 
conviction in a meeting with A/DCM on February 12, pointing 
to the case as a success story for Bahrain's new 
anti-trafficking law.  Bahraini media did not report on the 
outcome of the case. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Ching's was the first case prosecuted under 
Bahrain's Law to Combat Trafficking in Persons, enacted in 
January 2008.  According to prosecutors, she brought three 
Thai women to Bahrain under false pretenses.  When they 
learned she intended to employ them as prostitutes, one of 
them contacted authorities, who arrested Ching. The sentence 
exceeded the minimum sentencing guideline of three years' 
imprisonment and BD 1,000 (USD 2,650). 
 
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Visit Embassy Manama's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/manama/ 
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HENZEL