UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Opinion: Nine more Bahrainis are being arbitrarily detained suffering numerous of human rights violations
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has formed an Opinion on 18 September 2020 (No.41/2020) concerning Husain Ali Hasan Khamis and eight other Bahraini citizens, recently published on the website of the Working Group and reflected in its annual report to the Human Rights Council. The Opinion, adopted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention at its 88th session, 24-28 August 2020, addresses the cases of nine individuals convicted by the Bharani Fourth High Criminal Court on 16 April 2019, following an unfair mass trial.
The WGAD has found that the cases demonstrate a pattern of warrantless arrest and the use of torture to extract confessions. The defendants were convicted by the Bahraini government for their alleged involvement in a terrorist cell, the Bahraini Hezbollah. The WGAD has determined however, that the imprisonment of the individuals is a violation of several international human rights laws concerning arbitrary detention and has asked the government of Bahrain to take immediate action to remedy the situation. This includes the immediate release of the illegally detained prisoners, compensation and other reparations, including renewal of their identification documents (as proof of restored citizenship) and an expunging of their criminal records in accordance with international law. In the current context of the global COVID-19 pandemic and the threat posed in places of detention, the Working Group has also called upon the Government not to dither, but to take urgent action to ensure the immediate release of the nine individuals.
Read the full report here.
European-Bahraini relations: How the EU has favoured commercial interests over the integrity of its own citizens
Since 2011 the European Union’s (EU) diplomatic engagement with Bahrain has been far from reaching the laudable human rights standards the organization set for itself. Since the 1990’s, an anthology of EU legislation and official declarations have presented the EU as an inherently value-based organization. Article 21 of the Treaty on European Union provides that the Common Foreign Security Policy of the bloc “shall be guided by the principles … of democracy, the rule of law, the universality and indivisibility of human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect for human dignity, the principles of equality and solidarity.” In the same vein the EU Global Strategy, issued in 2016, spells out that “the EU must act globally to champion the indivisibility and universality of human rights.” In addition, the European Union Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders have been issued, reviewed, and reformed numerous times, as well as scrutinized by the European Parliament to further prove the Union’s commitment to democracy and human rights in the wider world. The External Action Service claimed that protecting human rights defenders (HRDs) worldwide is a cornerstone of the EU’s human rights engagement. |
