Bahrain Mirror: A British thinktank that bills itself as a global authority on military and diplomatic affairs has been accused of jeopardizing its independence after leaked documents showed it has secretly received £25m from the Bahraini royal family, which has been criticised for its poor human rights record.

According to the British "The Guardian" newspaper, Bahrain's repressive rulers donated the sum to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) over the last five years.

The Guardian added that the documents also reveal that IISS and the Bahraini royals agreed to "take all necessary steps" to keep most of the donations secret. The Bahrain donations make up more than a quarter of IISS's income.

The confidential documents have been obtained by Bahrain Watch. The group believes the secret donations undermine the independence of IISS, which says it is a non-partisan organization that provides objective information about the world's security issues. IISS has rejected the accusation.

The documents reveal that IISS and Bahrain's rulers specifically agreed to keep the latter's funding for the Manama Dialogues secret. This amounts to £14.9m since 2011, the papers show.

Bahrain Watch said: "Any organization should be concerned about receiving donations of such a large sum from a single donor, but they should be even more concerned when that donor is an autocratic government with such a terrible track record for human rights."

"The Bahraini government is willing to spend so much on the IISS and the Manama Dialogues because they allow the government to portray itself as modern, liberal and business-friendly, in contradiction to the evidence of torture, abuse and political disenfranchisement that has been so well documented by countless credible organizations already," it continued.

The Guardian further stated that the Khalifa dynasty, which has ruled Bahrain since it gained independence from Britain in 1971 has been castigated by campaigners for presiding over deteriorating human rights. During May's visit to the country campaigners have again highlighted the Bahraini state's crackdowns on journalists and pro-democracy activists.

Arabic Version