Bahrain Mirror: The Council of Representatives (Parliament) rejected a proposal law to amend some provisions of law no. (18) of 2014, on the reform and rehabilitation institution law. The proposal suggest an additional paragraph to Article (63), appointing a committee of judges from the Supreme Court of Appeal to inspect prisons and their procedures a maximum of twice a year.

For his part, The Minister of Shura and Parliament Affair, Ghanim Al-Buainain said that "7 parties have the right now to visit the reform and rehabilitation centers, as stated by law, in addition to the National Institution for Human Rights, and the Ombudsman. This means that now we have 9 authorities allows these visits."

He clarified that "the addition will not add anything to the [law] text and reality, as the current text exhibits flexibility in terms of visits, and it is enough to meet the required task."

MP Anas Buhindi commented on his side that "there are many bodies that oversee the form and rehabilitation center, and [he] sees no need to increase the number of these bodies." He further claimed that "Bahrain's human rights report is distinguished, and we must not go along with claims of fake human rights organizations in their reports against Bahrain." "Some bodies visited the punishment institutions, and saw that services available are all in the rank of 5-star hotels," MP Buhindi went on to say.

MP Adel Alasoomi for his part believed that "for this law to be proposal it had to fill a gap, and we do not have any gap to fill."

Arabic Version