Bahrain pursues legal action to ensure rights of six sailors detained by Qatar

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrain is pursuing legal measures to ensure the rights of the six sailors who were on board a vessel seized by the Qatari coastal and border security patrols.

“What happened is a violation of the principles of Gulf brotherhood and good neighbourliness,” said the Ministry of Interior in a late-night statement on Thursday. Qatari actions “under the pretext of breaching its territorial waters” transgress “all human values, customs and traditions of the Gulf, and Arab and Islamic charters,” the statement said.

The Qatari intransigence and insistence on targeting Bahraini sailors and fishermen violate a more than 200-year-old tradition allowing the people of the Arab Gulf to hunt for pearls and fish without restrictions or threats as practised by our fathers and grandfathers, said the ministry.

Qatari forces took into custody two Bahraini and four Asian sailors and seized two boats on Wednesday on charges of encroaching into Qatari waters for fishing. The actions, the ministry said, also represent a clear violation of the rights of Gulf citizenship affirmed by the statute of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf and the relevant Gulf agreements.

Interior Ministry said the ministry, in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is pursuing legal measures to preserve the rights of fishermen and seafarers, within the framework of ensuring the security, freedoms and safety of citizens and taking care of their interests.

This, however, is not the first time that Qatari Coast Guards have targeted Bahraini fishermen. In October last year, Qatari authorities intercepted and seized a Bahraini boat on charges of breaching territorial waters.

Two Asian nationals were on board the seized vessel. Before that in November 2020, Qatari coastguard vessels intercepted two Bahraini coastguard vessels conducting a maritime exercise. At that time, Bahrain’s interior ministry said it would report the incident to the Gulf Cooperation Council, which both states are members of, and that it hoped it would not happen again.