Bahrain Mirror: Bahrain's Permanent Mission in Geneva expressed its regret over the inaccuracies in the annual report presented by UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Andrew Gilmour. "The conclusions and observations of the report were not based on facts and objective foundations," said the delegation.

The delegation further urged referencing the sources, documents and information which Bahrain had provided to the organs of the United Nations, before jumping to conclusions and inaccuracies.

The Bahraini delegation affirmed its full respect "for the rules of civil society participation in the work of the United Nations and in particular the Human Rights Council," adding that "it is against human rights activists being persecuted or subjected to any form of threat, retaliation or arbitrary arrests." It further stated that "free expression and opinion are safeguarded by the Constitution, national laws and international standards, and the Kingdom of Bahrain has provided a wide and unprecedented space among the region to exercise all these rights."

Arabic Version