Bahrain: Capital Punishment

(asked on 21st July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Bahraini counterpart on allegations of (a) torture and (b) due process violations in the case of (i) Mohammed Ramadhan and (ii) Husain Moosa who have been sentenced to death in that country; and what recent comparative assessment he has made of the accuracy of (A) Bahrain's Special Investigation Unit, (B) the Bahraini Ombudsman and (C) independent experts at the International Rehabilitation for Torture Victims.


Answered by
James Cleverly Portrait
James Cleverly
Home Secretary
This question was answered on 1st September 2020

Lord Ahmad, the Minister of State responsible for human rights, publicly expressed our deep concern at the decision by Bahrain's Court of Cassation to uphold the death penalty verdicts imposed on Mohammed Ramadhan and Husain Moosa on 13 July. We have raised both cases at senior levels with the Government of Bahrain. The Bahraini Government is fully aware that the UK opposes the death penalty, in all circumstances, as a matter of principle.

The UK welcomed the investigation by the Ombudsman and Special Investigation Unit into the cases of Mohammed Ramadhan and Husain Moosa, ultimately leading to their retrial - a first in Bahrain.

The UK is committed to supporting Bahrain's oversight bodies, including the Ministry of Interior Ombudsman and the independent Special Investigations Unit. We continue to believe that Bahrain is taking steps in the right direction to improve its performance on justice and security issues. The support we provide to these bodies, including in partnership with UN Development Programme, contributes to the ongoing development of their capacity and capability, in line with Sustainable Development Goal 16.

The UK Government takes note of a number of sources of information when making assessments on Bahrain. Our latest assessment was published as part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Human Rights and Democracy Report in July 2020.

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