Name Salah Bandar | ||
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Bandargate
Dr Salah Al Bander (also Al Bandar, born 1955) is a British citizen of Sudanese origin known for his role in revealing the Bandargate scandal in Bahrain. Al Bander had been working as a strategic planning adviser to the Royal Court of Bahrain since January 2002, then he was seconded to Ministry of Cabinet Affairs in January 2006. On September 13, 2006 he was arrested and deported to London by Bahraini security officials after he distributed a report revealing a conspiracy to suppress the Shia in Bahrain (who form the majority of the population). The scandal that ensued was named Bandargate, after him. Al Bander is also the Secretary General of the MOWATIN: Gulf Centre for Democratic Development, a London-registered non-governmental organisation.
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Bandargate
Dr Al Bander, 52, a Sunni Muslim, received calls in March 2006 from other Sunnis inside the Bahrain government concerned over an organized campaign to raise tensions within the government and the Bahraini society. Al Bander began investigating the accusations with the help of accountants and government whistle-blowers.
The report
In early September, 2006 he presented a 940-page report to advisers of King Hamad and the prime minister, Sheik Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, as well as to Western embassies and the news media. The report indicates a secret plot to "deprive an essential part of the population" (Shiites) of their rights.
UK politics
He served as a city councillor in Cambridge for the Liberal Democrats from 2008-2012. He left the Liberal Democrats in 2015.