A/HRC/4/58 page 5 B. Summary of cases 5. The following is a brief summary of information received pursuant to resolution 2005/9. It covers a variety of situations in which persons have been intimidated or suffered reprisals for having cooperated with United Nations human rights bodies, for having availed themselves of international procedures, for having provided legal assistance for this purpose, and/or as relatives of victims of human rights violations. 6. Bahrain. On 20 July 2006, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights defenders sent a letter of allegation to the Government of Bahrain in relation to the situation of Abdulraoof Al-Shayeb, President of the National Committee of Martyrs and Victims of Torture (NCMVT) and his wife Wedad Al-Shayeb. Abdulraoof Al-Shayeb had been the subject of communications sent by the Special Representative on 7 April 2004 and 1 November 2004. According to new information received, Abdulraoof Al-Shayeb was convicted in absentia on 1 July 2006 of involvement with a prostitution network and sentenced to a one-year prison term. The charge related to allegations that a woman from Uzbekistan had entered Bahrain with a false marriage certificate, using Abdulraoof Al-Shayeb’s name. He reportedly denied any knowledge of this woman. When he first discovered that this woman had illegally used his name, he requested the police to investigate. Adequate investigations were not undertaken in response to Abdulraoof Al-Shayeb’s request. His lawyer was also denied permission by the trial judge to call a handwriting expert as a witness to verify whether the signature on the marriage certificate was Al-Shayeb’s. He had been previously charged in 2004 with “moral indecency” but was acquitted because there was no evidence to support the charges. 7. On 14 May 2006, Abdulraoof Al-Shayeb had participated in a television programme broadcast by the Al-Hurra channel during which he had commented on alleged human rights violations committed by the Bahrain authorities. On 22 May 2006, Al-Shayeb was detained for questioning in relation to comments he had made on this programme and was released the same day. On 5 July 2006, Wedad Al-Shayeb received a telephone call from the Ministry of Education in Bahrain, requesting her to go to their premises to answer questions. As Wedad Al-Shayeb refused to do so and requested to be fully informed about the reason why she was being summoned, she was threatened that the State Security Authorities would be called if she did not comply with the request. Wedad Al-Shayeb was finally told that the questions related to a summer camp organized by the Bahraini Youth Society for Human Rights which was held in the premises of the kindergarten owned by Abdulraoof Al-Shayeb and Wedad Al-Shayeb between 2 July 2006 and 5 July 2006. The Special Rapporteurs expressed their concerns that the harassment campaign against Abdulraoof Al-Shayeb and his wife might be connected to his activities in defence of human rights, including his attendance at the Human Rights Council in Geneva in 2006 and at the sixtieth session of the Commission on Human Rights in 2004. 8. The Government of Bahrain responded to the above communications on 10 October 2006. At the time of writing this report the correspondence had not yet been translated.