Al-Wefaq delivers letter to UN Secretary-General: People of Bahrain banned from simplest rights amid absence of contractual constitution

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): The Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society delivered a letter to the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Antonio Guterres, indicating that the people of Bahrain are deprived of their most basic rights stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In a statement on Wednesday, (December 22, 2021), Al-Wefaq said it tackled a number of files and issues in its letter, most notably the reality of prisons, which still hold thousands of prisoners of conscience, human rights defenders, journalists and media professionals.

The letter stressed that the people of Bahrain "are forbidden from political participation in the three authorities, distribution of wealth, decision making, legislation, implementation and the judiciary, and are banned from having political rights, freedom of opinion and expression, religious freedom, freedom of association, freedom of peaceful assembly and other freedoms confiscated by the authorities in Bahrain by force and oppression, which all come under tyranny and violation of human rights, where the authorities worked to dismantle and cancel opposition societies by dissolving them, withdrawing their work permits and applying the political isolation law in the state without any motives or logical reasons."

"According to international indicators, Bahrain is a country that is full of public, political, financial, legislative and judicial corruption, as classified by international groups in their reports, such as Transparency International, which has described Bahrain as one of several brutal and repressive regimes. The Economist dubbed Bahrain an authoritarian country, while Freedom House classified it in the "Not Free" list and among the most repressive in the Middle East."

Al-Wefaq noted that it, along with several national societies, issued many genuine and realistic initiatives and projects to activate and improve the lives of citizens such as the Bahrain Declaration, the Manama Document, the Non-Violence Document, and the No to Hatred Document as well as many other initiatives that contribute to national reconciliation and work on a comprehensive solution to the crisis. However, all of them fell on deaf ears from the official side, and quite the contrary took place, as the authorities' press pens were made to broadcast hate and incitement.

The society called for pushing the Government of Bahrain to implement democratic principles as constitutional monarchies do. It also urged that Bahrain be a state of law and institutions to reach a serious political solution, in order to improve the lives of citizens and end the crisis that has lasted for more than a decade.

At the end of its statement, Al-Wefaq stressed the need for constitutional consensus, since the contractual constitution (1973) is absent, with the urgent need to separate the executive, legislative and judicial powers until the principle of peaceful transfer of power is reached after the country has been overwhelmed by authoritarian rule.

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