Rights groups criticise UN award for Bahrain PM

MANAMA, July 2 (Reuters) New York-based Human Rights Watch and Bahraini rights groups condemned today the United Nations' decision to award Bahrain's prime minister an honour for improving living standards in the Gulf Arab kingdom.

Rights groups accuse Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, prime minister for more than 35 years and brother of Bahrain's late ruler, of corrupt and oppressive rule, and of hoarding vast wealth and land while leaving many citizens in poverty.

''Sheikh Khalifa ... presided over several decades of severe political repression in the country, including the systematic torture, arbitrary arrest, and forced exile of political opponents,'' the US rights group said in a statement.

''A person with a human rights record as poor as that of Sheikh Khalifa should not be getting a UN award.'' The Habitat Scroll of Honour is the UN's most prestigious award for those deemed instrumental in lifting living standards in urban centres around the world, a UN Web site said.

''This award ... signifies international recognition of your inspiring and tireless efforts over the last three decades to improve the cities of Bahrain for the good of all,'' said Anna Tibaijuka, U.N. Undersecretary-General, in an award ceremony speech faxed to Reuters by Bahraini officials today.

The Information Ministry declined to comment on the rights groups' allegations, but said Khalifa deserved the prize.

''The prize is international recognition of achievements in supporting Bahrain's growth, indicating that his first priority since he came to office was to provide decent housing for every citizen,'' it said in a statement.

The statement also said that a government decision to ban a demonstration against the UN award last Saturday was justified on the grounds that it was illegal and that locals opposed it.

Khalifa's Web site (wwww.bahrainprimeminister.net) sets out his record in providing housing, power and water since the 1960s.

Many Bahrainis complain of a lack of decent housing and services, particularly outside of the capital, where crumbling homes in overcrowded streets house mostly Shi'ite Muslims.

Shi'ites are a majority in Bahrain but the island, base of the US Navy Fifth Fleet, is ruled by the Sunni Khalifa family.

The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights estimates that 360,000 of Bahrain's native population of about 450,000 are waiting for subsidised homes. Some have waited as long as 12 years.

Authorities cite a shortage of land, which the BCHR says has been largely appropriated by members of the ruling family.

Shi'ites complain of discrimination in jobs, services and housing, and political unrest gripped Bahrain in the 1980s and 1990s when their demands were met with arrest and expulsion.

Since coming to power in 1999, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, the prime minister's nephew, has introduced some reforms, including pardoning political prisoners and exiles.

But the prime minister is more visible in Bahrain, where newspapers praise him almost daily, as do billboards erected on the occasion of every major business development project.

REUTERS RN RK1931