An exiled Bahraini opposition group has warned reforms introduced this month pave the way for an absolute monarchy, raising the prospect of fresh tensions in the Gulf Arab state.
The London-based Bahrain Freedom Movement (BFM) said King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa had reneged on promises to limit the powers of an appointed upper house when he declared Bahrain a "constitutional kingdom" and set parliamentary elections for October.

"The political situation in Bahrain changed on 14 February, 2002. This is the day when the emir imposed a constitution in a way that had never been practised in the history of mankind," BFM said in a statement e-mailed to Reuters on Thursday night.

King Hamad, who became emir upon the death of his father in 1999, announced political reforms last year aimed at transforming the island state into a kingdom and holding the first parliamentary elections in 27 years.
Bahrainis overwhelmingly supported the proposed reforms in the first referendum since the country's independence from Britain in 1971.

BFM said King Hamad had assured prominent opposition figures at a meeting last year the Shura council, appointed by him, would have only consultative powers. But his amendments gave the Shura legislative powers on a par with the elected parliament.

.BFM said he had promised the new constitution would be based on the 1973 constitution, which provided for a strong parliament with wide legislative powers.

It said the new constitution reduced voting rights "creating an absolute monarchy with non-democratic provisions covering all aspects of public life in Bahrain."

The BFM statement said Bahraini intelligence also sought to intimidate opposition figures by telling about two dozen activists their names were on a list of 99 Bahrainis wanted by the United States.

"This wicked attempt at frightening the opposition was exposed as false and untrue when the news spread...and when the U.S. embassy denied the existence of a blacklist with 99 Bahrainis on it," the statement said.

Five Islamic and liberal groups agreed earlier this week to set up a committee to study the new constitution.
Bahrain's first elected parliament was dissolved in 1975, prompting unrest among the Gulf Arab state's majority Shi'ite Muslims demanding political and economic reforms from the Sunni Muslim-led government.

Bahrain: Broken promises pave the way for an “absolute monarchy”

The political situation in Bahrain changed on 14 February 2002. This is the day when the Amir imposed a constitution in a way that had never been practiced in the history of mankind.

A year earlier, on 14 February 2001, the people of Bahrain voted on the National Action Charter that paved the way for two constitutional amendments. One relates to conversion of the name of Bahrain into a “kingdom” and the other relates to the creation of a bicameral parliament with a lower legislative council and an upper consultative council.

The opposition forces were opposed to the ambiguous wording of the Charter and hence a meeting was convened on 8 February 2001 between the Amir and four senior opposition figure (Sheikh Abdul Amir Al Jamri, Seyyed Abdulla Al Ghoreifi, Mr. Abdul Wahab Hussain and Dr. Ali Al Oreibi). The session was direct and the opposition figures questioned two issues: whether the 1973 Constitution will be the governing criteria and whether the upper chamber will ever have legislative powers. The Amir replied “I give you my word as a gentleman that the 1973 Constitution will be the basis and that the upper house will only be for consultation”. The opposition figures requested that these affirmations be published in the media. And the Amir responded. He ordered the Justice Minister to publish a statement that appeared in the two daily newspapers (Akhbar Al Khalij and Al Ayyam) the next morning (9 February 2001) confirming that the 1973 Constitution will be the basis and that the upper chamber will be for consultation only.

In good faith, the opposition forces rallied behind the Amir. Soon after, the Amir appointed a secret committee for amending the constitution. This committee held all its sessions in secret, and not a single word of its proceedings was leaked to the media or to the Bahrain Bar Society. The committee compromised all the hated figures in the establishment including the Interior Minister.

Then on 2 February 2002 the Amir invited a small group of people and hinted to them that the amended constitution was ready. When one attendant asked to see the amended articles, his request was rejected. Several small hand-picked groups were invited in the next 10 days. The political farces sensed that something grave was to be committed in a very short time. But no had ever thought that the grave mistake will be the imposition of an entirely new constitution and the declaration of the kingdom on 14 February 2002 without any prior consultation with or reference to the people of Bahrain. Up until the last minute of the announcement made on 14 February, not a single citizen outside the secret committee knew what was going to be announced.

Then the bombshell landed on 14 February: the Amir declared himself a king and a unilaterally prepared constitution was directly issued in the Official Gazette and imposed on the nation without any reference to criteria set-out in the 1973 Constitution and without any respect to the National Action Charter or the affirmation published on the media on 9 February 2001.

The security forces were put on a high alert as from the beginning of February. And on 5 February 2002, the head of the intelligence service, Sheikh Khalid bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, summoned about two dozens of senior opposition figures and told them that their names are part of 99 Bahrainis on a US blacklist and that if they traveled outside Bahrain they might be arrested by the Americans. This wicked attempt at frightening the opposition was exposed as false and untrue when the news spread everywhere and when the US Embassy denied the existence of a blacklist with 99 Bahrainis on it.

In the meantime, the Amir said to the handpicked groups of people he met that he has the signatures of top constitutional experts from around the world who endorsed the amended constitution. It later transpired that these so-called experts were a mixed bag of individuals who had nothing to lose from supporting a constitution that reduced the voting rights of the people of Bahrain from 74% in the 1973 Constitution to a mere 49%. They had nothing to lose from creating an absolute monarchy with non-democratic previsions covering all aspects of public life in Bahrain. The so-called experts (non of whom was ever available for questioning by the Bahrain Bar Society ) included Jean Paulsson (from France), Mohammed Ramzi Al Shaer (from Egypt), Mohammed Mirghani (from Egypt), Abdul Latif Al Manoni (from Morocco) and Dhaher Hikmat (from Jordan).

The Egyptian Mohammed Ramzi Al Shaer has a book in which he says that “any amendment to any constitution that lowers down the rights of the people is considered null and void”. However, he was so happy to lower the voting rights of the elected parliamentarians from 74% in the 1973 Constitution to 49% in the kingdom’s constitution. It also transpired that the French expert had no expertise in drafting any constitution. He was the judge used by the government during the Hague proceeding on Hawar islands (which Qatar disputed their Bahraini sovereignty).

The imposing of a constitution that robs the nation of its rights and that gives overriding powers for the monarch on all aspects of life is an insult to democracy. The monarch is now given legislative powers himself and he can intervene in the judiciary as well as process any discretionary decisions without any checking power. In fact, one of his first royal decrees was to declare all the decrees that were issued after the dissolution of the parliament in 1975 as laws. These decrees were never laws as they required the consent of the parliament before being passed as laws. The kingdom’s constitution has therefore reduced the significance of all elected bodies, past and present, and converted Bahrain into an “absolute monarchy” in all respects but the name.  

Bahrain Freedom Movement

21 February 2002