ID :
411131
Sat, 07/02/2016 - 04:52
Auther :

Information Minister: Legal accountability has no sectarian basis

Manama, July 1 (BNA): Information Minister Ali bin Mohammed Al Rumaihi stressed Bahrain’s keenness to enforce the law without discrimination, pointing out its approach of tolerance regarding some legal violations. However, he said, growing political sectarianism and the terrorist danger required intervention to ensure stability of the country and ward off attempts to drag it into the cauldron of anarchy. Speaking to Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA), he criticised attempts by some to depict judicial verdicts and legal procedures taken against some individuals from the opposition and their organisational bodies as a sectarian attack by the Bahraini authorities on a purely peaceful opposition. He stressed that enforcing the law on individuals and organisations found guilty of terrorism, violence or inciting them to sow division and sectarianism is not an attack by the government but a constitutional duty to maintain stability and stave off attempts to drag the nation into chaos, like what is happening in some countries in the region. Commenting on the dissolution of Al-Wefaq Society, toughening punishment on its Secretary General Ali Salman and revoking the Bahraini citizenship of the most prominent Shia cleric in the country Shaikh Isa Ahmed Qassim, the Information Minister said the government dealt with some legal violations with a lot of tolerance on many occasions. Yet, with surging political sectarianism and the escalating danger of terrorism and foreign interference in the kingdom’s internal affairs amid sophisticated regional and international circumstances, it was deemed necessary to respond to the growing popular and parliamentary demands to impose sovereignty of the law out of keenness on national security. He pointed out that Al-Wefaq Society is facing charges of violating the constitutional legitimacy and the fundamentals of the state of law by advocating foreign interference and violence. The Information Minister took pride in the fact that Bahrain, since the launch of the royal reform project in 1999, has witnessed no arrest or trial of any citizen because of exercising his constitutional and legal right to freedom of expression and peaceful protest. He stressed that all convicts in cases of security nature, including Al-Wefaq Society Secretary General, were found guilty of many charges like carrying out acts of violence and terrorism, transgressing legitimacy, inciting sectarianism and hatred and justifying arson, killing, sabotage and terrorism. He also pointed out that all the convicts’ legal guarantees were provided for them in open and transparent trials. The Information Minister rejected description by some people of the decision taken by the Bahraini authorities to revoke the Bahraini citizenship of the Shia religious cleric Isa Qassim and other personalities from the opposition as unjustified and in breach of the international law and covenants. He asserted that the citizenship is not a document but a national value related to belonging to the nation and loyalty to it and its historical and constitutional fundamentals. He added that revocation of the citizenship is a legitimate right for the government according to the national and international laws in case an individual undermines the vital interests of any country or shows loyalty to another country. He noted that the procedure is effective in many countries in the world. He also explained that the decision to revoke the Bahraini citizenship was taken against those found guilty of intelligence with Iran, having link to terror cells implicated in smuggling operations of weapons and explosives, targeting public and private properties as well as vital institutions and belonging to the terror organisation Daesh. He emphasised that there is no discrimination between the defendants on religious or sectarian basis. The Information Minister criticised the Iranian interference in the internal affairs of Bahrain and Arab countries to destabilise them and incite sectarianism and hatred in the secure communities. He voiced confidence in the Bahraini people’s awareness, stressing Bahrain’s success to overcome 2011 incidents and its resolve to prevent recurrence of the sectarian conspiracy on legitimacy. He also praised approval of the Arab Information Ministers Council in its 47th session of Bahrain’s proposal to work out a mechanism to stop transmission of the satellite channels inciting hatred and terrorism and cancel their membership in the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU).

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