In a letter sent to the EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell, 16 MEPs voiced their “deep concern” about the deterioration of human rights in Bahrain, MEP Karen Melchior tweeted last week.
The letter was sent to Borrel prior to his meeting with the Bahraini minister of foreign affairs.
“We are deeply concerned by the ongoing deterioration of human rights in Bahrain, following a year where, as highlighted by Human Rights Watch, there has been an ‘escalated repression’ of the Bahrain government against critics’,” the letter said.
I and MEPs deeply concerned about deterioration of human rights in Bahrain. Meeting planned between Bahraini Minister of Foreign Affairs and @eu_eeas ambassador to Bahrain where Cooperation Agreement is expected to be signed. Letter to @JosepBorrellF: https://t.co/XsotsZa6jH pic.twitter.com/5jLgs3s9wO
— Karen Melchior @karmel80@norrebro.space (@karmel80) January 22, 2021
“We therefore kindly urge you to take this opportunity to hold your Bahrain counterparts accountable for their human rights commitments by raising the cases of European-Bahrain dual citizens Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and Sheikh Mohammad Habib Al-Muqdad and urging Bahrain to restore their moratorium on the death penalty,” the letter added.
The MEPs also drew attention to what they called the kingdom’s de facto suspension in 2017 of a moratorium on the death penalty, highlighting that five of six executions that have taken place were deemed arbitrary by UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Agnes Callamard.
