Bahrain Mirror-Exclusive: Families of "Diraz Martyrs" who were killed by the government forces during an attack on protestors in Diraz on (May 23, 2017), denied that they showed will to bury the bodies of the martyrs then retracted.

The families of the martyrs said in a statement "we, the families of Diraz martyrs, completely deny the claims of the Ministry of Interior issued regarding us showing will to bury our sons and then retracted. We still condemn these continuous crimes that are against all the religious, legal and humanitarian norms."

The statement added "we continue to demand our inalienable right in receiving the bodies of our sons to wash them and bury them in the cemeteries we specify, noting that we issued a statement last Friday (May 26, 2017) in which we affirmed that we do not allow anyone or any party to wash and bury our sons."

"We, once more, stress that confiscating this right is in violation to Bahrain's constitution and article 5 of Law No. (3) for the year 1975 on public health stipulates that: The relatives of the deceased shall arrange for the burial of his body. The executing authority may do so in some cases, particularly in case of death of a person as a result of a contagious disease, which takes place in compliance with the provisions of the Shari'a and supervision of the relatives of the deceased if the deceased had any," the statement read.

The families went on to say that the competent parties have to respect the law and apply it (...) noting that our Jaafari sect does not allow washing or burring the deceased without the permission of their legal guardian.

Arabic Version