Manama: Bahrain has categorically denied allegations against Shaikh Nasser Bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the king’s representative for charity work and youth affairs, concerning a judicial review of a decision by the British Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and stressed that it had never sought any sovereign immunity from the British courts.
“As the British DPP today affirmed, an arrest would have been improper given the absence of evidence of the conduct alleged,” the government said in a statement. “As Bahrain has never sought anonymity or sovereign immunity from the English Courts for anyone in respect of this case, it expresses no view on the DPP’s statement that immunity was inappropriate,” the statement carried by the Bahrain News Agency (BNA) on Tuesday evening said.
Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) ruled two years ago that a complaint against Shaikh Nasser could not be pursued.
On Tuesday, a court in London was told an academic decision on immunity had been suggested.
However, Bahrain said that the situation “did not and could not change for lack of evidence to support the false allegations.”
“This has been an ill-targeted, politically-motivated and opportunistic attempt to misuse the British legal system,” the statement said.
“Contrary to assertions being made in the wake of today’s hearing, the Court Order does not open the door to a prosecution. Rather, as the statement of reasons makes clear, the CPS said the decision on immunity was ‘academic’ as the ‘police decided not to conduct an investigation on the basis of the dossier of evidence submitted to it.’ All this was made plain in court today. In short, the situation has not, and will not, change as there is no evidence for the allegations.”
Bahrain’s government added that it again categorically denied the allegations against Shaikh Nasser.
“The Government reiterates its firm condemnation of torture and recognises its responsibility to investigate any reasonable allegation. The Government remains committed to implementing the wider reforms as recommended by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) and welcomes constructive engagement with responsible campaigners in pursuit of that aim.”
The BICI, an international fact-finding probe, was set up in June 2011 by King Hamad to look into the dramatic events that unfolded in Bahrain in February and March and suggest recommendations to ensure they are not repeated.
The commission published its report in November 2011 and the government welcomed it, pledging to implement the recommendations and setting up an ad-hoc commission to oversee their application.
