NIHR rejects publishing pics of Karbabad attack suspects

Manama : A local rights institution expressed its worry in regards to publishing the pictures of suspects accused of killing a police officer in Karbabad recently.

The National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR) said on its official Twitter page yesterday that it “detected that the Police Media Centre and a number of local dailies published the photos of the citizens accused of committing the condemned crime that occurred in Karbabad and resulted in the martyrdom of a public security officer and the injury of two others while they were performing their duties”.

“The institution values the delicate circumstances that Interior Ministry’s policemen endure to maintain security, stability and public peace and protecting citizens and residents. NIHR condemns the hideous act which killed the martyr of duty Mohammed Tanweer,” the institution said in its statement.

However, NIHR expressed its regret that Paragraph C of Article 20 of Bahrain’s Constitution which stipulates that “an accused person shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty in a legal trial, in which the necessary guarantees for the exercise of his right of defence in all the stages of investigation and trial are ensured in accordance with the law”.

The institution also referred to Bahrain’s commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which includes in its eleventh article that “everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence.”

“It also affects the Kingdom’s ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, specifically paragraph 2 of its fourteenth article, stipulating that everyone charged with a criminal offence shall have the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law,” the statement read.

NIHR added, “From this point, the institution repeats its rejection to publicising the photographs of detained suspects before a final verdict is issued against them from the highest court in the Bahraini judicial system. NIHR calls upon all official authorities to consider the commitments of the Kingdom to international pacts and agreements. We wish that the local press would also consider those commitments and refrain from publishing names and pictures of suspects who didn’t receive a final verdict against them.”

This comes in the event of Interior Ministry’s announcement yesterday, confirming the arrest of 13 suspects in connection with the terrorist attack that killed a police officer and severely injured two others in Karbabad last week.

The Ministry, all local dailies (except one) and online activists published the names and pictures of the suspects.