Concerns shooting incident could sour relations between Bahrain and Qatar

Manama: Bahrain's interior ministry officials said that Qatar's coastguard could have acted less forcefully when they dealt with a fishing boat that had strayed into their waters.

The strong Bahraini condemnation of the incident, days after 37-year-old fisherman Adel Al Taweel was shot in the back, was an indication of the escalating tension between the two Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) neighbours that had at one time resorted to the International Court of Justice to settle a bitter border dispute.

“While there was no doubt that Adel Al Taweel broke the law, he could have been dealt with differently,” Tarek Bin Daina, interior ministry undersecretary, said. “The shooting was unnecessary and extreme. We are not blaming the Qatar authorities for the shooting because we believe it may have been an individual decision," he told reporters in Manama.

The fishing boat could have been chased, caught and detained or it could have been immobilised as well and the crew apprehended, but that did not happen, he said.

Qatar's coastguards said that they shot warning shots in the air to ask seven strayed boats to leave and that only one boat, Adel's refused to comply, prompting them to take action.

According to Adel's sister, he was allegedly shot from a close range and then taken to a hospital in Doha where he was treated. She said that Adel was out fishing and not involved in any illegal activity.

Bin Daina said that the GCC countries have signed an accord allowing their citizens to work in any of the six member-states. All Gulf nationals are treated like Bahraini citizens in Bahrain.

“Qatar authorities have told us there were many smugglers and pirates active in the area and that the fisherman did not heed a warning to stop and that is why he was shot. It is very easy to stray into Qatari waters in the area so it may entirely be possible that he strayed accidentally,” Bin Daina said. "What we are saying is that shooting a man should be the ultimate last resort and in this case it was certainly unnecessary and an extreme step,” he said, quoted in the local media.

Both Bahrain and Qatar needed to agree on measures and procedures to ensure the incident is not repeated, Bin Daina said.

King Hamad Bin Eisa AL Khalifa last week ordered that full medical care be given to Al Taweel, including flying him to Europe for further treatment.

A Bahraini medical crew who flew to Doha to repatriate Al Taweel was initially allowed to run a check-up to assess whether he could be transported, but were later told to leave the patient's room by the police who said that they had orders to follow.

According to Adel's relatives, the Bahraini fisherman who was initially told that he could leave Doha was subsequently detained to face charges of entering Qatari waters illegally.

Relations between Bahrain and Qatar are facing an acid test after Doha blocked the nomination of former information minister Mohammad Al Mutawa as the next GCC secretary-general.

Qatar said that it backed up a Bahraini nominee for the post to become vacant after incumbent secretary-general Abdul Rahman Al Atiyyah leaves at the end of his term, but insisted that it should not be Al Mutawa who was Bahrain's information minister when the two countries went to The Hague to solve their dispute, mainly over Hawar Islands.