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