UN Censures Bahraini Regime for Human Rights Violations

Local Editor

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights [OHCHR] censured the Bahraini regime for human rights violations in the country, in a joint statement on Tuesday.

A statement on behalf of 46 states in the Human Rights Council was delivered by Switzerland, expressing deep concern over the al-Khalifa regime's crackdown on peaceful protesters in a joint statement on Tuesday.

The OHCHR also condemned the imprisonment of journalists and anti-regime demonstrators, in addition to expressing concerns over the torture of inmates who are in jail for exercising their human rights.

The statement read, "We are concerned about the continued harassment and imprisonment of persons exercising their rights to freedom of opinion and expression, including human rights defenders and journalists. We are troubled by continuing reports of ill-treatment and torture in detention facilities."

"We are concerned about the increases in long sentences for exercising rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and the lack of sufficient guarantee of fair trial. We are concerned about the repression of demonstrations," it also said.

Additionally, the OHCHR called on the al-Khalifa regime to address these concerns and also asked for an office with a full mandate in Bahrain.

Earlier in the day on Tuesday, a Bahraini court gave 13 protesters jail terms of up to 13 years. The move meant to preserve a "highly repressive political order," as Human Rights Watch described it last month [May].

Since mid-February 2011, thousands of pro-democracy protesters have held numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the al-Khalifa royal family to relinquish power.

On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates [UAE] invaded the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on peaceful protesters.
Since then, scores of people have been killed and hundreds arrested.

Furthermore, physicians for Human Rights said doctors and nurses have been detained, tortured, or have disappeared because they had "evidence of atrocities committed by the authorities, security forces, and riot police" in the crackdown on anti-government protesters.

Sources: News Agencies, Edited by website team