Bahrain Mirror: The Government of Bahrain responded to the statement made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark on the prominent human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja during the Human Rights Council session in Geneva.

Bahrain's representative to the United Nations, Yousef Bujairi, said that the government of Bahrain rejects what it called intervention in the state's exercise of its national and sovereign powers over its citizens under the law and deemed it "unacceptable to interfere in the authority and jurisdiction of the independent judiciary or to comment on its verdicts."

Bahrain invoked the independence of its judiciary and justice, claiming that Al-Khawaja's case to be a matter of Bahrain sovereignty.

"What Bahrain has done regarding Mr. Al-Khawaja is purely national and sovereign, as the state and its authorities have dealt with a Bahraini citizen in their territory and national sovereignty," said Bujairi.

He considered that Al-Khawaja "committed an act that incriminates him and which is punishable by the Bahraini criminal law." Bujairi claimed that the Bahraini judiciary "provided all the guarantees of a fair trial, but he was convicted before all levels of the judiciary."

Arabic Version