Bahrain Human Rights Society calls for more prison inspections

Manama: Bahrain Human Rights Society is calling for the implementation of a system of regular visits to prisons to monitor the treatment of prisoners.

The visits will help improve conditions and prevent possible instances of torture and degrading treatment, Abdullah Al Durazi, the society's head has said.

The system of regular visits will be part of the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment which Bahrain joined in March 1998, but has yet to ratify.

Improved conditions

"The conditions in the prisons and detention centres in Bahrain have improved, but more work is needed in order to reach the standards that we would like to have here," Al Durazi said at a workshop to promote awareness about the protocol, co-organised with the Geneva-based Association for the Prevention of Torture formed in 1977.

"We need to have regular visits to all places of incarceration and detention and follow up on the conditions of the inmates and detainees there."

The protocol states that visits "shall be undertaken with a view to strengthening, if necessary, the protection of these persons against torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment."