Manama – Bahrain’s Foreign Ministry summoned on Monday the ambassador of Iraq in Manama and asked him to convey Bahrain’s distress over the statements delivered by Iraqi vice president Nouri al-Makili and the Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesperson denouncing Bahrain’s judicial sentences carried out against three civilians linked to a terrorist case.
The foreign ministry said it had informed the Iraqi ambassador, Ahmed Naif Rasheed Al Dalimi, that Bahrain fully rejects any form of interference in its independent judiciary.
The ministry also called on Iraq for the immediate end of such remarks, which are unacceptable interference in its affairs, and a violation of the charters of the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League.
Even Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa asked on Monday al-Maliki to stay silent if he respected himself.
On his Facebook page, al-Maliki had described the execution as a “heinous crime.”
“Bahraini authorities today executed three young opponents advocating democracy and peacefully demanding the legitimate rights of the perseverant Bahraini people,” al-Maliki wrote.
The comments published by al-Maliki pushed the Bahraini foreign ministry to emphasize the need for the Iraqi government to commit itself to taking all necessary measures to maintain relations with its brothers and to deterring everything that adversely affects them.
Also on Monday, the National Institution for Human Rights (NIHR) said in a statement that it followed the execution of three individuals convicted with the murder of a police officer and two policemen by an explosive device in March 2014.
The NHRI stresses that the final verdict by the Court of Cassation was taken after the exhaustion of all judicial remedies with reasoned judgments in the presence of independent attorneys in accordance with recognized international standards.
The NIHR also affirmed that Bahrain has not violated any of its international legal obligations by executing the death penalty pursuant to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Arab Charter on Human Rights, and the GCC Human Rights Declaration adopted by the GCC Supreme Council in Doha in 2014.