THE SECOND of three cases against women's rights activist Ghada Jamsheer was adjourned until October 5 yesterday, as she demanded that the court stop referring to her accuser as a 'judge'. Ms Jamsheer said the plaintiff in the case was no longer a judge and that the court should stop referring to him as such. She said he was among several judges who were removed from their positions last year.

"The terminology used stated that he was 'relieved of his duties', but they use these nice words to make the judges happy. The reality is that he was removed from his position," Ms Jamsheer told the court.

The judge trying her case said that he would look into the matter by the time of the next hearing. Ms Jamsheer, who is head of the Women's Petition Committee is standing trial in three separate cases for allegedly defaming three Sharia judges in the media, distributing publications which are claimed to be illegal and also calling a judge and swearing at him on the phone, all of which she denies. She is accused of calling the judges backward, corrupt and careless. Ms Jamsheer told the judge that it was a travesty that she was fighting similar allegations in three separate trials.

"Can you remind me who my accuser is in this particular case, please, your honour?," she asked the judge.

"There are so many cases against me that I can't remember which is which."

Her first case, which opened and was adjourned on June 4, was brought jointly by three judges, including the plaintiff in yesterday's case. Yesterday's hearing in the First Criminal Court was specifically to answer the charges of allegedly verbally abusing the judge on the phone. But Ms Jamsheer's lawyer Mohammed Al Mutawa said that she was also standing trial for this same charge in the first case. The first case is being tried in the much higher-level Higher Criminal Court, which has the authority to sentence her to up to 15 years. Mr Al Mutawa said that all the cases should be tried in the First Criminal Court, where the maximum sentencing for such cases is only five years, because the allegations against her are not of a very serious nature.

"She is standing trial for the same allegation, that of allegedly swearing at the judge over the phone, in two separate courts. We believe that this is an administrative mistake which we plan to rectify," said Mr Al Mutawa.

Ms Jamsheer earlier said in court that she was being victimised by the Public Prosecution because she called for its head Shaikh Abdul Rahman bin Jaber Al Khalifa to resign. She 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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