WOMEN'S rights activist Ghada Jamsheer called for the resignation of the Public Prosecutor as she appeared in court yesterday.

Ms Jamsheer appeared before the Higher Criminal Court at the start of three separate cases against her centring around alleged defamation of three Sharia court judges.

In court, she called for the resignation of Public Prosecutor Shaikh Abdul Rahman bin Jaber Al Khalifa. Ms Jamsheer alleged that Shaikh Abdul Rahman was victimising her because she had called for his resignation at a demonstration two months ago.

She denied all three charges filed against her in this first case. There was applause when she spoke in the courtroom which was packed with her supporters.

"Of course I am not guilty of any of these charges," Ms Jamsheer told the judge.

Outside demonstrators held up banners calling for the charges against Ms Jamsheer to be dropped and reforms of the Sharia Court system, which they claim is unfair to women. In this particular case, Ms Jamsheer is accused of defaming a Sharia judge in the media, distributing illegal publications and also calling a judge and swearing at him on the phone. She denies the charges.

Ms Jamsheer will also stand trial in two other cases, one against a Sharia judge on June 15, and the other against the husband of a woman she supported in a custody battle on June 19. Ms Jamsheer told the court that the Public Prosecution had reversed the charges she had filed against a judge for calling her and speaking to her rudely. She said that documented evidence, which she presented to police when she filed a complaint in 2001, showed that the judge in question had called her from his home phone and had spoken to her for 16 minutes and 22 seconds.

"This evidence was submitted to authorities when I filed my complaint against him," she told the court.

"These defamation cases were filed against me in 2001. Why is it that they are being rushed to court now? The reason is that the Public Prosecutor wants to get back at me for calling for his resignation."

Ms Jamsheer also accused the Public Prosecution of deliberately giving her the runaround by scheduling three different court cases for each of the judges who have filed complaints against her.

"They could have easily put them all together? Why do they want to trouble us by dragging us to court every few days?," she said in court.

Ms Jamsheer told the judge that she wanted to call as witnesses in her defence people in Bahrain whose lives have been adversely affected by Sharia Court judgements, which she believes to be unjust and backward.

"I could bring you practically the whole of Bahrain, men, women and children, to prove my point," she said.

The judge adjourned the case until July 2 to allow both sides to gather evidence. One of Ms Jamsheer's lawyers, Mohammed Al Mutawa, told the GDN that he didn't expect the case to proceed much longer in this court.

"We don't believe that this is the appropriate court for this kind of case. Next week we will be asking to be referred to a lower court which is more suited for this kind of case."

However, Mr Al Mutawa said that he doubted that even this court would throw the full weight of the law against Ms Jamsheer if she is convicted.

"On paper, she faces up to 15 years in jail if convicted."

The charges against Ms Jamsheer have been condemned by the international groups both Human Rights Watch and the Arab Programme for Human Rights Activists. Ms Jamsheer heads the Women's Petition Committee, a network of activists demanding the codification of Bahrain's family laws and the reform of its family courts.

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