Matar Matar

Matar Ebrahim Ali Matar (also spelled Mattar Mattar; ; born 3 May 1976) is a Bahraini politician of the Al Wefaq party who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from October 2010 until his resignation in early 2011. Born in the village of Al Daih to a large family with diverse political views, Matar completed his secondary education in Bahrain and moved to Kuwait to pursue higher education. He remained there until 2002 when he returned to Bahrain and joined Al Wefaq political party. Matar was politically active, working within committees in the party and meeting with foreign officials. In 2010, he won with a large margin in the Parliamentary election, becoming the youngest of all MPs and representing the country's largest constituency.

When the Bahraini uprising started in early 2011, Matar joined the protests and gave several interviews to international media. Following government crackdown, he and other party MPs resigned from Parliament. Due to his activism, Matar was arrested by authorities in May. He was allegedly kept in solitary confinement and subjected to torture while in detention before getting tried before a military court. He was released in August and acquitted of charges in February 2012. His arrest, alleged mistreatment and subsequent release triggered several international reactions by international bodies and NGOs such as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Inter-Parliamentary Union, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Following his release, Matar continued his political activism.

Early life and career Matar was born in Al Daih village, Bahrain on 3 May 1976. His father, Ebrahim is married to three women and has 17 children besides Matar, who is the fifth child out of his mother's seven. The family is diverse in its ideological and political views; some being "leftists, Islamists, Communists, some...conservative and some liberal," said a family member. They are active politicians, most of them members of opposition groups Al Wefaq (Shia) or Wa'ad (secular). As a child, Matar is said to have been shy and intelligent. He studied at Al Razi primary school, then at Jidhafs intermediate school and after that at Noaim secondary school, where he is said to have been a top student.

He traveled to Kuwait to pursue higher education. He earned a Master's degree in Computer Science (Artificial Intelligence) from Kuwait University. When the 1990s uprising in Bahrain began in 1994, Matar left to Kuwait. He returned to Bahrain following a reform process initiated by King Hamad who succeeded his father, Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa. In 2003, Matar married Amal Habib, an ophthalmologist working in Salmaniya Medical Complex. They have a son, Ahmed (born 2007) and a daughter, Sarah (born 2008). Since 2009, Matar had been working with the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED).

In October 2010, Matar was successfully nominated by Al Wefaq to the parliamentary election, becoming the youngest Member of Parliament. The constituency he represented, the first of the Northern Governorate Matar won from the first round with a percentage of 85.72.

He became a member of the financial affairs committee where he was an outspoken critic of the military budget. In December, the then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was on a visit to Bahrain when Matar asked her to "use America’s influence to reverse a sharp decline in civil rights in the kingdom". "Sometime we feel that there are no red lines or constraints between United States and their allies," he added. In March, martial law was declared and Saudi troops were called in. Despite the hard crackdown and official ban, the protests continued.

Role in uprising Matar was among protesters in the Pearl Roundabout; he also took part in a number of other protests and encouraged youth to do so. In February, he and 17 other Al Wefaq MPs (the largest bloc) submitted their resignations in protest against the government crackdown on anti-government demonstrations. He was involved in organizing talks with the government. Matar was outspoken against the government's human rights violations, giving interviews to human rights organisations and foreign media including one on 26 April with AJE on the arrest of several health workers and another on 1 May with BBC in which he called for "establishment of a secular democracy in Bahrain". AJE reported that Matar was forced at gunpoint to enter an unmarked car.

Subsequently, Matar was taken to an unknown location. and filed a complaint regarding it. In a testimony to Amnesty International, he said:

The government of Bahrain denied that Matar had been kept in solitary confinement. They said the "information concerning the disappearance of Mr. Matar following his arrest is not correct" and that they had followed international human rights standards. They added that Matar was allowed to contact his family and lawyer, and that his "legal safeguards were ensured" according to local law. They also noted that Matar had lost his parliamentary immunity following the acceptance of his resignation on 29 March. They however did not address the allegations of mistreatment nor did they provide other information requested by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights such as the results of investigation and medical examinations. Also, Kassoum Tapo, the president of the Committee on human rights of parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Union insisted that Matar had been a parliamentarian "at the time of the demonstrations and of [his] arrest."

Trial On 12 June, Matar was put before a military court called the National Safety Court. He and Jawad Fairooz, another resigned MP of Al Wefaq who was also detained on 2 May were charged with "public incitement for regime change and deliberately spreading biased rumors, in addition to taking part in public gatherings," the state-run Bahrain News Agency reported. On 20 February 2012, Matar was acquitted of all charges by the minor criminal court. Later in the month, his travel ban was lifted and he was allowed to travel to Washington, D.C. for POMED annual awards reception.

Reactions

Matar said he thought the purpose of the arrest was to pressure Al Wefaq. Analysts speculated that the release was "an attempt at defusing tensions in the country". The UK-based NGO welcomed their release saying it was overdue.

Continued activism Following his release, Matar continued his pro-democracy activities, authoring a number of book chapters and articles on the situation in Bahrain and testifying before a United States Congress human rights commission. In 2013 he co-authored an article titled "Bahrain's Shifting Sands" for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and was a presenter at a National Endowment for Democracy event titled "Understanding the Struggle for Power and the Democratization Process in Bahrain".