Bahrain's prosecution defends decision to publish suspects' names and pictures

Manama: Bahrain's public prosecution has defended its decision to publish the pictures and names of suspects in terror-related cases, citing the need to assure the nation about the security situation in the country.

The names and pictures of 10 suspects were published in six of the seven dailies in Bahrain and on the state-run television and the senior public prosecutor said that the publication was within the confines of the law and in the interest of the nation.

Two political formations, Al Wefaq and Waad, criticised the decision to name the suspects and show their pictures, saying that it was against the constitution of Bahrain.
Two of the suspects were arrested on charges of assaulting the editor of Al Watan newspaper on August 25.

Ahmad Abu Zeitoun was slightly hurt after he resisted the pre-dawn physical onslaught and the attempt to torch his car, and the 31-year-old Palestinian had a deluge of popular and official sympathy.

On Wednesday evening, the interior ministry said that it was looking into alleged mysterious kidnappings and denied it had a role in the abductions.

According to local reports, a group of masked men, posing as security agents, kidnapped people in the streets, blindfolded them and drove them away in unmarked cars to undisclosed places where they forced them to undress.

After beating their victims, the kidnappers dumped them at the same place from where they were kidnapped.

"Competent security services have taken the necessary legal and security measures to investigate the alleged kidnappings," Mohammad Rashid Buhamood, interior ministry assistant undersecretary for legal affairs, said.

Also on Wednesday evening, the social development ministry said it would take legal action against societies and associations that "failed to reach out to all people and to serve one category of people at the expense of the others."

The ministry's warning was issued amidst a controversy sparked by a press conference organised by the Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS) on Saturday.

Journalists complained that they had been subject to derision and insults by relatives of detainees who had been invited by the society to highlight alleged moral and physical pains.

According to journalists, the relatives and some of the society officials wanted to focus exclusively on defending suspects held in security-related cases and quarreled with them when they asked about other issues.

Two journalists said that they received phone calls from the society chairman who apologised for the fracas.

However, BHRS, the oldest rights watchdog in Bahrain, disputed in a statement the media version of the conference, saying that the journalists lacked media professional skills and did not report accurately.

The society said that journalists should have taken up "the detainees' cases and reported on the pains of their families."