‘King Hamad presumably enjoyed his ringside seat at the Queen’s birthday bash, but the disturbing reality for people back in Bahrain is a never-ending cycle of arrests’
Queen Elizabeth and organisers of her 90th birthday extravaganza have been criticised by a leading human rights organisation for the decision to seat her next to the King of Bahrain.
The Queen’s birthday bash on Sunday evening – hosted by comedy duo Ant and Dec at Windsor Castle – featured 900 horses as part of the annual Royal Windsor Horse show.
She watched the performance with the King of Bahrain, who was sitting on her right, alongside the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.
Human Rights Watch said the decision to place the Queen next Bahrain’s head of state was an “error of judgement”.
Amnesty International UK’s head of policy and government affairs Allan Hogarth told The Independent: “King Hamad presumably enjoyed his ringside seat at the Queen’s birthday bash, but the disturbing reality for people back in Bahrain is a never-ending cycle of arrests, tear-gas raids, torture in detention and long prison sentences for peaceful protesters.”
According to a report by Amnesty the government of Bahrain in the past year has “continued to curtail freedoms of expression, association and assembly and cracked down further on online and other dissent”.
It adds: “Opposition leaders remained imprisoned; some were prisoners of conscience. Torture and other ill-treatment remained common. Scores were sentenced to long prison terms after unfair trials. Authorities stripped at least 208 people of their Bahraini nationality. Eight people were sentenced to death; there were no executions.”
Referring to the organisers of the Royal Windsor Horse show, a Buckingham Palace source told The Independent the King of Bahrain was there “at their behest”.
H Power, a privately owned events management company responsible for the smooth delivery of the annual horse show, said “he was there because he supports the horse show” but refused to elaborate further.
