Bahrain Mirror: Head of the Bahraini Delegation before the Committee against Torture (CAT) in Geneva, Deputy Foreign Minister Abdullah Al-Dossari, accused the reports of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) of lacking credibility, seeking politicization of the rights work, and giving it a sectarian trait.

His remarks came during the session held Monday (April 24, 2017) in Geneva to present the Bahraini delegation's responses to inquiries by the Committee Against Torture (CAT) in Geneva last Friday (April 21, 2017). This came in the framework of discussing the second and third national periodic reports on Implementation of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

In regards to the Parliament's invitation to the High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein to visit Bahrain, Al-Dossari stressed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not yet received this invitation.

Al-Dossari said that the government "will consider the invitation for the Rapporteur on Torture to visit Bahrain, taking into account the course of positive developments in the country."

Al-Dossari also pointed out the recent measures by the government, concerning the issuance of a unified "Sunni-Shiite" law for personal statuses (family law). He believed that it falls in line with the procedures to protect human rights and prevent torture.

"Bahrain is facing the abuse of human rights by some parties unjustly and aggressively as a façade to achieve narrow political goals, in addition to terrorist acts that hinder the efforts of comprehensive development," Al-Dossari claimed before CAT.

He further accused NGOs of adopting the policy of using human rights cases to harm the development of human rights, and seeking to politicize the rights work, and take it into dangerous sectarian turns that harms it instead of developing it. Al-Dossari also noted what happened in Jaw Central Prison, and that none of these organizations condemned it.

"Some organizations that submitted reports to the committee lack credibility, and does not have any presence on the Bahraini arena; it is neither accepted or welcomes from the Bahraini side. The Bahraini society does not agree with many of these organizations' allegations, and thus they cannot present the Bahraini society as whole," the Bahraini Deputy Foreign Minister stated.

"The Committee needs to care and examine the information provided by these organizations," he went on to say.

Regarding the national security apparatuses' method of maltreatment and abuse to extract confessions, Al-Dossari said, "Any allegations in this regard are unfounded."

Arabic Version