European delegation urged to visit places to 'understand' Bahrain

Manama : Bahrain’s Parliamentarians yesterday urged members of a visiting European Parliament (EP) delegation to visit places in the  Kingdom to know its reality and make proposals.  

The four-member delegation from EP reached Bahrain yesterday for a four-day visit at the official invitation of the Parliament Chairman Ahmed Al Mulla. 

The delegation, led by Mitchel Belfer, includes Roberto Arditti, Chouki and Filipo as members.

They had a meeting with the Parliamentarians yesterday at the Parliament House, where they had a detailed discussion about matters of mutual
interest. Parliament First Deputy Chairman Ali Al Aradi led the Bahraini side. MP and Head of Human Rights Committee  Nasser Al Qaseer, Chairman of Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Security Committee Abdullah bin Huwail, Dr. Jameela Al Sammak, Isa Al Kooheji and Majeed Al Asfoor took part in the meeting.

Speaking to the DT News,following the meeting, Al Qaseer said, “We have asked the European parliamentarians to give us the proposals and they agreed to it. If they come up with the proposals, we would submit them before the parliament and make some good changes.”

He added, “If they go and visit the places, they will be able to see the reality of Bahrain rather than writing reports about Bahrain without facts.” Al Qaseer also said that the European parliamentarians were impressed by the actions taken by Bahrain earlier for the establishment of Human Rights in Bahrain.  

Meanwhile, MP Jamal Buhassan, said, “We want to develop our relations with the European countries as an independent sovereign state and we expect them to respect our sovereignty as well.

“They should not protect those people who are working against the national security of Bahrain and always spreading bad news about the country,” he added.

Dr Al Sammak, meanwhile, said that it was good to have both the European and Bahraini parliamentarians together as it would help in bolstering the ties between the European countries and Bahrain. “It is a good chance for them to come and see for themselves that there is no discrimination in Bahrain,” she said. Al Asfoor said that as a matter of fact, it was a very good exchange of views. “They heard from us our parliamentary experiences and they themselves shared their own experiences,” he said.