Another set of comments attributed to Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni, Chair of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, has caused anger amongst the country’s opposition.
Bahraini state newspaper Al Ayam reported that Mr Bassiouni claimed that so far there is no evidence of human rights abuses committed by Bahrain.
This is despite hundreds of personal testimonies, letters, videos and photographs that have all been sent to the commission.
Last week there were a number of protests outside the commission’s offices in Bahrain, after Mr Bassiouni made similar comments. He was reported as saying that Bahrain was not involved in torture.
Again, many different people inside Bahrain claim to have been tortured, including a great number of those recently released.
The question that many have is how Mr Bassiouni can make these comments before the full investigation has even concluded. The commission is not due to finish gathering information for at least another month.
The Commission has released a statement to reaffirm their commitment to seeking the truth, but this will come as little consolation to those who are beginning to doubt the independence of the Commission.
For many in Bahrain this is their last opportunity to create the ground for political reforms, with many disappointed by the recent national dialogue, which failed to achieve any major changes.
Ali Al Aswad, who resigned as a Bahraini MP in February, said,
“We’ve put a lot of hope into this commission but we are becoming more and more concerned by the statements of the Chair. Of course we still encourage those with experience of human rights abuses to go forward and have their testimonies heard, but we are worried that less people will do this, having lost trust in the commission. We call on Mr Bassiouni to come forward and clearly and unequivocally reject his previous statements.”
