‘It’s extremely disappointing that he’s agreed to help the British government ingratiate itself further with such an abusive government,’ says Human Rights Watch
Human rights campaigners have criticised Prince Charles over a scheduled visit to Bahrain amid claims torture and oppression remain a concern in the Gulf state.
The Prince of Wales is due to make an official visit to Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates on behalf of the British Government in November to “help strengthen the United Kingdom’s warm bilateral relations”, according to a statement released by Clarence House.
But the trip to the strategically important Gulf state has been attacked as “totally inappropriate” by anti-arms trade campaigners, and Human Rights Watch have described the visit as “extremely disappointing”.
Nicholas McGeehan, Bahrain researcher at Human Rights Watch, told The Independent: “Prince Charles has taken a free-thinking, principled stance on many important issues, so it’s difficult to credit that he’s not aware of the serious and worsening human rights situation in Bahrain.
“It’s extremely disappointing that he’s agreed to help the British government ingratiate itself further with such an abusive government.”
Earlier this year the Palace was criticised by a leading human rights organisations for the decision to seat Queen Elizabeth next to the King of Bahrain during a celebration for her 90th birthday.
Human Rights Watch described the decision to place the Queen next Bahrain’s head of state as an “error of judgement”.
In response, representatives of the King of Barain told The Independent: “In 2011, His Majesty King Hamad set up an independent inquiry of international experts to investigate human rights abuses in Bahrain. His Majesty accepted its findings in full and has since implemented significant human rights and socio-economic reforms in Bahrain. As part of his reform programme, His Majesty established the office of the Ombudsman at the Ministry of the Interior which is an independent body aimed at ensuring compliance with professional standards of policing and investigating complaints. ”
A report by Amnesty International last year accused Bahrain of overseeing “rampant abuses including torture, arbitrary detentions and excessive use of force against peaceful activists and government critics.”
Despite reports of abuse, British arms sales to Bahrain haveincreased significantly over the past five years, with the UK covering arms such as machine guns, assault rifles and anti-armour ammunition in deals worth £45 million, according to the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) organisation.
