International Committee: Bahrain one of the largest prisons for political opponents

The Geneva-based International Journalists Support Committee (JSC) described Bahrain as one of the largest prisons for political opponents, calling on the Lebanese authorities to stop any procedures to deport Bahraini opponents.

The committee said in a statement that the decision of the Lebanese Ministry of Interior to deport Bahraini opponents from the Lebanese capital, Beirut, is a flagrant violation of international conventions and covenants.

The committee pointed out that the decision to deport non-Lebanese members of the Bahraini Al-Wefaq Society, issued by the Lebanese Ministry of Interior, came after the Bahraini authorities’ protest to the Government of Lebanon against holding a press conference for the society to release its report entitled The Violations Epidemic.

It stressed that the deportation decision contradicts the international conventions and charters that the Lebanese state has pledged to abide by, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Geneva Conventions, the Convention and the International Convention against Torture, and the Convention against Torture, Preventing the crime of genocide, the Arab Charter on Human Rights, and the Lebanese Constitution.

According to human rights organizations, Bahrain is one of the largest detention centres for political opponents in the Arab world and that Al-Wefaq addressed its recommendations to the Human Rights Council to demand the release of all prisoners of conscience.

The committee reiterated its rejection of any measure that might threaten the safety and life of any human rights activist on the grounds of exercising freedom of opinion and participation in political life inside or outside the borders of their country.

The committee referred to the events held in front of Bahraini embassies in many European and American countries to demand respect for human rights and to stop intimidating human rights defenders under the umbrella of the laws of the host countries.