Bahrain rejects HRW report as ‘misleading, unbalanced’

Manama: Bahrain has rejected a report issued by Human Rights Watch on Monday as “misleading, unbalanced, drafted controversially, and based on incorrect information.”

“Bahrain is committed to continuing working and cooperating with its international partners to reinforce the legal and legislative development through the independent institutions it has set up to consolidate human rights and prevent any illegal malpractice,” Eisa Al Hammadi, the information and parliament affairs minister, has said.

“However, Bahrain refuses to work with politicised organisations that operate according to an agenda targeting Bahrain and its achievements,” the minister said at the meet the press briefing following the weekly cabinet session.

Bahrain does not need organisations that prepare “one-sided reports,” he added.

In its report, the HRW claimed Bahrain has tortured detainees, even after the government vowed to stop such abuses. It said its findings were based on interviews with 14 detainees.

However, Al Hammadi rejected categorically the allegations.

“Official entities attach great importance to any allegations about practices outside the legal framework and take them seriously,” the minister said.

“Bahrain has during the past few years established independent national institutions in order to verify any allegations of abuses of detainees and prisoners. The government has cooperated with Human Rights Watch and supplied it with information through the Ombudsman and the Ministry of Interior. This was the only truth mentioned in the report, and it was provided by official entities in Bahrain,” Al Hammadi said, Bahrain News Agency (BNA) reported.

Bahrain takes any allegation of abuse very seriously because it does not have any kind of policy that endorses any acts outside the law, he added.

“We have a clear policy regarding cooperation with international organisations that genuinely want to cooperate. However, as regards politicised organisations that carry a specific agenda in their work, we do not need them. Bahrain is operating in accordance with the United Nations Organisation and other international organisations in which it is a member. We do not need such organisations to come and direct. We have a constitution and there are laws, accountability and responsibilities in dealing with any acts outside the law,” the minister said.