6- The NIHR issued two statements pertaining to two separate events in which it renews its rejection of spreading the photographs and names of person charged in various cases, where the first was issued on 29 January 2015 concerning the disclosure of the names and photographs of persons charged with the crime of abusing the social media means, while the second was issued on 3 May 2015 concerning the spreading of the names and photographs of persons charged with committing crimes.23 Actually, it emphasized in one of the two statements that some of those arrested, even if judgments were rendered regarding them, presumed innocence remains an intrinsic right given that they were rendered in absentia and that the possibility of invalidating or nullifying them whether through appealing or challenging them remains, in addition to not using their right to defense during gathering evidence or preliminary investigation and during the trial. Second: Right of the accused to defend himself 1- The right to defense is considered to be a set of special privileges granted to the accused in a criminal suit to prove his innocence before the court of law through presenting the truth of the event ascribed to him, and equal in this regard is one who denies committing a crime attributed to him or one who confesses to it, and this right is considered a basic foundation upon which rests the right of the individual to guarantees of a fair trial. ‫اﻟﺘﻘﺮﻳﺮ اﻟﺴﻨﻮي اﻟﺜﺎﻟﺚ‬ ‫ﻟﻠﻤﺆﺳﺴﺔ اﻟﻮﻃﻨﻴﺔ ﻟﺤﻘﻮق اﻧﺴﻨﺎم‬ ‫ ـ ﻣﻤﻠﻜﺔ اﻟﺒﺤﺮﻳﻦ‬2015 ‫ﻟﻌﺎم‬ 2- The Constitution of the Kingdom of Bahrain emphases in Paragraph (c) of Article Number (20): “An accused person is innocent until proved guilty in a legal trial in which he is assured of the necessary guarantees to exercise the right of defence at all stages of the investigation and trial in accordance with the law.”. Moreover, the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which the Kingdom of Bahrain acceded pursuant to Law Number (58) for the year 2006 emphasized in Paragraph Three of Article Number (14) thereof that: “everyone shall be entitled to the following minimum guarantees, in full equality: (d) To be tried in his presence, and to defend himself in person or through legal as sistance of his own choosing; to be informed, if he does not have legal assistance, of this right; and to have legal assistance assigned to him, in any case where the interests of justice so require, and without payment by him in any such case if he does not have sufficient means to pay for it;”. 3- The right of the accused to defend himself is important as a natural right that occupies the leading place between the general personal rights, which is a right that was not decided just for the interest of the individual, but is in the interest of society insofar as achieving justice. The absence of this right leads to a distortion of facts which could result from false testimony or confession that is extracted by illegitimate means, which could mislead the judicial process and becloud the truth. 4- A denial of the guarantee of the right to defense or its restriction or hindering its enjoyment by an accused person leads to an undermining of the principles upon which is based a fair trial which reflects a system of integrated characteristics that aims to safeguard human dignity and protection of his basic rights and prevents through its guarantees a misuse of punishment in a manner derailing it from its aims, and the eschewal of the guarantee of the right to dense undercuts presumed innocence, given that presumed innocence accompanies the charged person until the rendering of the judgment in a final sense. 23 To view the two statements issued by the NHRIs for Human Rights, see the link www.nihr.org.bh. 83