Bahrain Mirror: Information revealed that Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni, head of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) will be received by the Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on Monday (May 9, 2016).

Bahraini sources expect that the meeting will be limited to honor Bassiouni's efforts for his report about the incidents witnessed in Bahrain in February and March 2011.

It is still unknown whether Bassiouni will meet civil society institutions and political parties or not.

Bassiouni maintained good relations with the Royal Court and Bahraini Government that cooperates with a training institution he established in Italy (International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences). Several members of the ministries of interior and justice are trained there.

BICI's report included 27 recommendations to improve the human rights situation in Bahrain; among them was: establishing a national, independent and neutral committee to implement the recommendations. However, this recommendation was not met.

Bahrain's allies, UK and USA, continued to call on the government to implement the committee's recommendations. Meanwhile, the Human Rights Council demanded the full implementation of the recommendations.

Bassiouni had said a few months after the report was issued that "the king has to choose between keeping the family united or the regime, and the country's unity," expressing his concerns over the transparency of investigations that the Bahraini government claim to adopt, stressing "they are conducting all these investigation in secret". He considered this as a means "to hide the crime."

Arabic Version