By DPA - Nov 22, 2005, 19:00 GMT

Manama - Human rights activists and lawyers on Tuesday pleaded with the families of 38 Saudi detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to sign documents allowing them to represent their relatives in U.S. courts.

The lawyers are hoping to file cases on behalf of the Guantanamo detainees before a proposed resolution denying prisoners the right to challenge their detention is voted on in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The resolution, if passed, would ban Guantanamo detainees from challenging their detention in federal courts, while allowing them the right to appeal if convicted.

Gulf Daily News - Vol XXVIII - NO. 238 - Sunday 13 November 2005

A HUMAN rights movement yesterday urged that Forum for the Future recommendations be closely followed up.

The message was conveyed by the Human Rights Dialogue, which was formed in Doha last week.

Dialogue president Egyptian Mohyeealdeen Hassan said that NGOs were being brought to the forum, without them being able to express themselves freely, because it was their governments who were running the show.

"There are negative and positive things in the Arab world, but who is there to follow them up?" he asked.

Gulf Daily News - Vol XXVIII - No. 238 - Sunday 13 November 2005

OFFICIALS at the Forum for the Future refused entry to a human rights activist yesterday, writes KANWAL HAMEED.

President of the now-dissolved Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, Abdul Hadi Al Khawaja, was among the six human rights activists nominated to attend the forum following a workshop held in Doha, Qatar.

They were set to present the workshop's recommendations to the meeting, attended by foreign ministers of the Broader Middle East and Northern Africa (BMENA) region and the Group of Eight (G8) industrial democracies.

Gulf Daily News - Vol XXVIII - NO. 238 - Sunday 13 November 2005

By KANWAL HAMEED

ACTIVISTS held a rally outside the Gulf Hotel last night despite a warning by the Interior Ministry that it was "illegal".

A representative from the ministry reportedly told organisers that if protesters went ahead, it would "use its own procedure" against them.

Organisers were told demonstrations held after sunset and before sunrise were not permitted.

However, when more than 500 demonstrators gathered at around 7pm, security authorities, who were also present in large numbers, did not interfere.

Gulf Daily News - Vol XXVIII, NO. 235 - Thursday 10 November 2005

By KANWAL HAMEED

A HUMAN rights coalition is planning protests around the Forum for the Future, to put a variety of issues in the global spotlight. They will focus on unemployment, people without citizenship, housing problems, protection of public lands and abuse victims.

The Popular Committee Coalition is set to stage protests and alternative meetings during the two-day forum, which begins tomorrow at the Gulf Hotel.

The coalition, spearheaded by the dissolved Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, includes the Unemployed Committee, Committee for People Deprived of Citizenship, Committee in Support of Former Exiled Citizens, Committee of Reinstatement of Coasts, Islands and Public Lands, National Committee for Martyrs and Victims of Torture and Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights.

Gulf Daily News - Vol XXVIII - NO. 235 - Thursday 10 November 2005

CIVIC organisations in the region are protesting an alleged decision by the Bahrain government to exclude a human rights activist from taking part in the Forum for the Future. They were attending workshop officially held by the forum's organisers in Doha, Qatar, which concluded on Tuesday.

The condemnation was in its final communiqué, which will now be presented to the forum attended by foreign ministers from Broader Middle East and North Africa (BMENA) region and the Group of Eight (G8) industrial democracies.

9 November 2005

About seventy representatives of civil society organizations from around the Middle East, meeting in Qatar, were outraged yesterday when the organizers informed them that the Bahrain Government might not allow Abdulhadi Alkhawaja to attend the Forum as their representative.

2 November 2005