Manama, The Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Security Committee at the Shura Council, chaired by Yusuf Ahmed Al-Ghatam, has backed the statement issued by the Ministry of Interior regarding the report posted by the Al Jazeera Channel on its website recently, as part of its incitement approach against the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The Shura committee lauded the role played by the Reformation and Rehabilitation Centre to protect the safety of inmates and ensure full compliance with the precautionary health measures to combat the novel Coronavirus in order to keep the number of active cases at its lowest level.
The panel urged the Qatari channel to stop its lies and allegations against the kingdom, noting that Al-Jazeera lacks professionalism and objectivity in its media reports because it broadcasts inaccurate and baseless information from unknown persons.
Regarding the allegations of the so-called “human rights activists” on the existence of “political prisoners” in Bahrain, the Shura committee said that the Interior Ministry had made it clear in its statement that “the records of the ‘Reformation and Rehabilitation’ in Bahrain doesn’t know the ‘political prisoners’ concept that comes out of the imagination of those promoting it, such as the inciting channel that works against Bahrainis and knows only the language of violence and terrorism. Those serving their sentences at the Reformation and Rehabilitation Centre serve their final verdicts after completing all judiciary phases.”
The committee affirmed that there is nothing in the Kingdom’s laws and legislation or in its judicial norms that considers political action a punishable crime, stressing that claiming the opposite is out of context, and undermines the distinguished status and transparency of the Bahraini Judiciary, which is one of the state’s independent institutions of which everyone is proud.
The panel indicated that the situation of inmates at the Reformation and Rehabilitation Centre is assuring per the reports of human rights organisations that periodically visit the centre to ensure that all inmates receive their rights and services, such as the National Institution for Human Rights, the Ombudsman Office and the Prisoners and Detainees Rights Commission.
The Shura committee added that the visits of the representatives of diplomatic and consular missions had proved in an indisputable way that the reformation and rehabilitation centres in the Kingdom apply the best widely-appreciated international practices by adhering to international human rights standards in dealing with inmates.
Source: Bahrain News Agency