Bahrain

Baroness Falkner of Margravine Excerpts

Wednesday 16th November 2011 Lords Chamber

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

Yes, we will certainly do that. One can draw some cautious optimism from the fact that the retrials are by civilian courts. The military courts have been closed and certain detainees have been released—not in this case, of course. A substantial commission report on human rights is about to be published next week that will cover all aspects of the kinds of concerns that we have and the noble Lord rightly has about what has been going on in Bahrain.

[Baroness Falkner of Margravine]

My Lords, on the subject of the international commission of inquiry, which is due to come out on 23 November, will my noble friend tell the House whether he has complete confidence in the impartiality of this commission? He will know that the opposition parties in Bahrain were very concerned at the delay in the publication of the commission’s report and fear that there had been external pressure for the commission to revisit its findings?

[Lord Howell of Guildford]

I believe my noble friend’s concerns to be unfounded. There were delays. It is a massive report and there were sheer technical problems in getting it forward in due course. As for impartiality, it is by all accounts—we have not seen the full detail yet—a substantial report that has gone into everything in great detail. One of the members is the distinguished British jurist, Sir Nigel Rodley, and there are other distinguished jurists and impartial members on it as well. I am fairly confident that this will be a very substantial report. It will be published at the same time as it is presented to the authorities in Bahrain and I think it will carry matters forward substantially.