National Institution for Human Rights – Kingdom of Bahrain
24. On two separate occasions, NIHR issued two statements in which it rejected the
publication of the names and photographs of the accused before final court
judgments are rendered. It confirmed its absolute rejection of publishing the names
and photographs of the accused persons in the official media and newspapers, and
considered that such acts violate the principle of presumption of innocence (the
accused is deemed innocent until proven guilty) in accordance with the provisions
of the Constitution and human rights international instruments to which the
Government of the Kingdom of Bahrain is committed.
25. In a statement released by NIHR, it commended the measure taken by the Ministry
of Education for allowing the detained or convicted students to sit for final exams.
It praised the system adopted by the Ministry, which allows taking final exams in
hospitals or reform and rehabilitation centers under the same conditions provided
for other students.
26. In the same context, in a statement released by NIHR, the National Institution praised
the decision of the Council of Ministers approving the establishment of the Prisoners
and Detainees Rights Commissioner, as an independent national mechanism that
allows monitoring prisons and detention centers. In another statement, NIHR praised
the League of Arab States approval of the Kingdom of Bahrain request to host the
headquarters of the Arab Court of Human Rights, as a necessary legal mechanism to
support the human rights system under the umbrella of the League of Arab States.
27. With regard to the monitoring process, NIHR monitored daily events and news
circulated in the media and social networks on the practices or alleged practices
of human rights violations. Since the monitoring process is related to the various
civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, NIHR included or indicated
its observations in the course of addressing these various rights, and made the
appropriate recommendations in this regard in chapters 2 and 3 of this report
28. In the same context related to protection of human rights, a representative of the
National Institution attended a number of hearings related to security events, which
attracted public attention. For instance, the Institution attended the trial of the
accused persons in the case known as “February 14”, and the trial hearings of the
accused in the Drydock riot events. Attending the hearings by NIHR representative
falls within its role in monitoring the human rights situation related to the rights of
the accused to establish justice, determining the conduct of the trial and monitoring
any violations of the accused right to enjoy fair trial guarantees in accordance with the
relevant international instruments. During these visits, NIHR identified a number of
measures that prejudice the right of individuals to enjoy fair trial guarantees. These
measures will be referred to when the right to fair trial is addressed.
29. In addition, in the context of the monitoring process, NIHR conducted a number
of visits to detention and custody centers, including Hoora police station, the
reform and rehabilitation center “Jaw” for men, the other center for women, and the
detention centre at the Drydock. A number of these visits by the National Institution
were made on the occasion of the visit by the delegation of her Majesty’s Inspectorate
of Prisons (HMIP) in the United Kingdom to the Kingdom of Bahrain during the
period from April 28, 2013 to May 2, 2013. This visit is part of a program that aims
to introduce the role of the Inspectorate in monitoring and inspecting prisons as a
national preventive mechanism at the level of the relevant agencies and institutions
in Bahrain by visiting some of detention and pre-trial detention centers as a training
practice.
30. There were news posted on the social networks that at Friday dawn, August 16th,
2013, a group of detainees in the pre-trial detention center at the Drydock created
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