Bahrain Mirror: Australia said that it remained deeply concerned about the imprisonment and mistreatment of peaceful protestors in Bahrain.

This came in Australia's comments, speaking on behalf of a group of countries, during an interactive dialogue with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, on his annual report and oral update, which addressed numerous human rights situations and challenges across the world, on Thursday (March 8, 2018).

During the dialogue, Belgium deplored the restrictions imposed on civil society space and multiple attacks on human rights defenders in Bahrain, China, Egypt and Venezuela.

In his written statement, the High Commissioner noted that human rights defenders and civil society organisations continue to suffer from intimidation, harassment and restrictions. "The recent, and deeply regrettable, five year sentence against Nabeel Rajab over a tweet is yet another serious setback for Bahrain's international reputation," he stressed.

Although the High Commissioner did not mention Bahrain in his oral statement on Wednesday (March 7, 2018), before the Human Rights Council during its 37th session held in Geneva, the Government of Bahrain voiced its deep disapproval of the written statement.

Bahrain further described during the interactive dialogue what was mentioned in the Commissioner's statement as "empty and repeated allegations", claiming that there are "tendentious parties that aim at insulting and degrading Bahrain and its achievements in the field of human rights," as stated by the Permanent Representative of the Bahrain Government to the United Nations, Abdul Karim Bujairi.

Arabic Version