UN expresses alarm at Bahrain move to strip 138 of nationality

The United Nations has expressed concern that a mass trial by a court in Bahrain that stripped nearly 140 people of their nationality this week had not met international fair trial standards.

On Tuesday, the tiny island country’s High Criminal Court handed 139 Bahraini nationals prison terms of three years to life and revoked the citizenship of all but one of them.

The court gave life sentences to 69, while 39 others received 10 years in jail each. Many of the defendants were tried in absentia.

“There are serious concerns that the court proceedings failed to comply with international fair trial standards, with a large number of the accused reportedly tried in absentia,” said Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, in a statement on Thursday.

She added that the revocation of nationality could have serious consequences in daily life, including the denial of the right to health, education and freedom of movement.

“Tuesday's convictions give rise to serious concerns about the application of the law, particularly through a mass trial that reportedly lacked the procedural safeguards necessary to ensure a fair trial,” Bachelet further said.

The UN official said the deprivation of nationality “must not be arbitrary”, particularly on “discriminatory grounds” and that such a measure could place the affected people and their family members in a situation of “increased vulnerability to human rights violations.”

Bachelet also voiced the world body’s concern at reports of torture or other ill-treatment of some of those convicted, strongly calling on Bahraini authorities to take “immediate steps” to stop such violations.

On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi denounced the rulings and lambasted them as anti-Iran accusations.

He said Manama cannot conceal its stark human rights violations and brutal crackdown on Bahraini protesters by playing the blame-game, making absurd accusations, handing down brutal sentences and pointing fingers at others.

SS