5- The NIHR has deemed it important to amend the provisions of Articles Number (49) and (158) of the decree law above, whereby the accused is entitled to request the competent prosecution body to release him, and in case his request is rejected he may submit a grievance to the Public Prosecutor, and thence to the competent court, provided that each of them commits to deciding on the grievance within three days from the date of submission, while the passage of a period of three days without decision on the grievance represents a rejection thereof necessitating automatically referring the grievance to the higher authority. 6- Moreover, the Institution attached importance for the public prosecution insofar as criminal cases and the accused to have the right to appeal the order issued by the lesser court judge after the detention or release of the accused detained by precaution, while the court has the right to order the extension of the detention or release of the accused in accordance with what is decided in Articles (147) and (148) of the Criminal Procedures Law. 7- On the other hand, and as regards the term of investigation, the NIHR has explained in its consultative opinion that the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bahrain has considered the right to enlist a lawyer to defend an accused person as obligatory in criminal cases, where Article Number (20) Paragraph (e) states: “Every person accused of an offence must have a lawyer to defend him with his consent..” ‫اﻟﺘﻘﺮﻳﺮ اﻟﺴﻨﻮي اﻟﺜﺎﻟﺚ‬ 8- Whereas the provisions issued under Legislative decree No.(46) of the year 2002 with respect to ‫اﻧﺴﻨﺎم‬ ‫ﻟﺤﻘﻮق‬ ‫اﻟﻮﻃﻨﻴﺔ‬ ‫ﻟﻠﻤﺆﺳﺴﺔ‬ promulgating the code of Criminal Procedures as amended affirmed that the person charged has ‫اﻟﺒﺤﺮﻳﻦ‬ ‫ﻣﻤﻠﻜﺔ‬ 2015 ‫ﻟﻌﺎم‬the right to seek the help of the right to communicate with the outside world ‫ـ‬and particularly an attorney, and rendered it an absolute right that is unrestricted by the type of crime leading to arrest, and this means the establishment of this right of the arrested person in all cases, where Article Number (61) thereof states: “…Every person who is arrested shall be informed of the reasons for his arrest. He shall have the right to contact any of his relatives to inform him of what has happened and to seek the aid of a lawyer.,” which was followed by the First Paragraph of Article Number (84) of the same law which states that: “The accused, victim, and plaintiff who claims civil rights, the person liable therefor and their attorneys shall be entitled to attend all investigation procedures...” 9- As relates to crimes, Article Number (134) necessitates calling the attorney to attend the questioning in case it occurs, such with the exception of urgent cases or being caught committing the crime, where it states: “Apart from the two cases of flagrante delicto and urgency because of concern for the loss of evidence, in crimes a Public Prosecution member shall not question the accused nor confront him with other defendants or the witnesses except upon inviting his lawyer to appear, if present.” . Moreover, Article Number (135) added that the attorney of the accused has the right to be informed of the investigation, and the impermissibility of separation between the accused and his attending attorney during the investigation for it states: “The accused’s lawyer shall be enabled to have access to the investigation at least one day prior to the cross-examination or confrontation unless the Public Prosecution member decides otherwise. In all cases, the accused shall not be separated from his lawyer who is present with him in the course of the questioning.”. 58

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