Bahrain court orders retrial of hunger striker

A Bahrain court yesterday ordered retrials for Abdulhadi Al Khawaja and 20 others convicted of anti-state crimes.

Associated Press

01 May, 2012

MANAMA // A Bahrain court yesterday ordered retrials for a prominent hunger striker and 20 others convicted of anti-state crimes.

The decision shifts the cases to Bahrain's highest appeals court and was seen as a victory for supporters of the rights activist Abdulhadi Al Khawaja and other opposition figures sentenced with him.

But there appeared no immediate openings for the release of the group, which include some of the top figures in protests by Bahrain's Shiites seeking an end to what they say is discrimination over jobs and housing as well as allowing the kingdom's parliament real powers to legislate and form governments.

At least 50 people have been killed in unrest since February 2011. Al Khawaja's nearly three-month hunger strike has become the latest rallying point for the demonstrations.

The official Bahrain News Agency described the appeals process for Al Khawaja as if "it were a trial for the first time".

"The court reconsiders the proceedings from the beginning and listens to the witnesses and the prosecution and defence arguments," it reported.

The defence attorney Hassan Radhi said the appeals court will decide whether to grant bail while the review is under way. No date has been set to begin the appeal proceedings.

It also was not immediately clear whether Al Khawaja would continue his hunger strike, which began on February 8 and which, according to his family, has brought him close to death. He was visited on Sunday by his wife, who claimed he was force fed with tubes and IVs against his will. Bahraini officials said Al Khawaja agreed to all procedures.

Al-Khawaja and seven other high-level opposition figures were sentenced last year to life in prison by a military-led court, which is now disbanded. Six others were sentenced to lesser jail terms as part of the group accused of anti-state crimes.

In addition, seven activists were convicted in absentia in the group.

For months, they have fought against the sentences, claiming violations of legal rights in the now-defunct military court and torture behind bars. None of the defendants were in court for yesterday's session.

This month Bahrain rejected a request by Denmark to take custody of Al Khawaja, who is also a Danish citizen.

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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ELECTION RESULTS

Macron’s Ensemble group won 245 seats.

The second-largest group in parliament is Nupes, a leftist coalition led by Jean-Luc Melenchon, which gets 131 lawmakers.

The far-right National Rally fared much better than expected with 89 seats.

The centre-right Republicans and their allies took 61.

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