(AhlulBayt News Agency) - UK Members of Parliament called on the British Foreign Office to file a complaint against the Bahraini government, and to call for an investigations into torture in the Kingdom. They also demanded their government to interfere concerning the death sentences of Mohammad Ramadan and Hussein Ali Moussa.
The UK has come under increased pressure to speak out over Bahrain's human rights record, as Prime Minister Theresa May seeks to strengthen trade links following Britain's vote to leave the European Union.
"Recent developments in Bahrain are troubling," said Margaret Ferrier, a Scottish National Party MP who chairs Westminster's All-Party Parliamentary Group on Democracy and Human Rights in the Gulf, "The New Arab" reported.
"A week ago we saw the first death sentences carried out in country since 2010, and concerns that more will follow are entirely legitimate", she went on to say.
"Accusations of the use of torture in Bahrain need to be taken seriously, and the UK Government needs to act responsibly as a key ally of the country - one which has been working to support and reform the Bahraini criminal justice system."
Ferrier also called on the Foreign Office to be "more outspoken."
"It is not enough for it to simply reaffirm the UK's rejection of the death penalty; it must engage with the Bahraini authorities over the very serious allegations of the use of torture," Ferrier said.
For his part, Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, "Bahrain should not under any circumstances execute two more young men, especially where there is credible evidence of confessions obtained through torture and unsound convictions."
"Investigations into torture should be conducted before trials not after them," Stork said. "Similarly, the UK, France, Germany, and the EU should publicly condemn this unfair trial and oppose these sentences before Bahrain assembles its firing squad," he further added.
Mohamad Ramadan and Husain Ali Mousa face the death penalty, despite the authorities' failure to properly investigate their allegations of torture, including beatings and electric shocks, a rights group said on Monday.
/257
source : Bahrain Mirror
Wednesday
25 January 2017
2:49:43 PM
807197
UK Members of Parliament called on the British Foreign Office to file a complaint against the Bahraini government, and to call for an investigations into torture in the Kingdom. They also demanded their government to interfere concerning the death sentences of Mohammad Ramadan and Hussein Ali Moussa.