Human Rights in Bahrain: “we must learn from our mistakes”

 The recently appointed Ombudsman for the Ministry of Interior in Bahrain told an FPA     briefing that his country had to be transparent, address the issue of human rights inside prisons, and learn from past mistakes. Nawaf Al Moawda said they were taking advice from, among others, the UK’s Independent Police Complaints Commission and Her Majesty’s Inspector of Prisons.  The main challenge they faced in Bahrain was to build public confidence; the number of complaints was rising, which he felt showed that such confidence was growing. Mr Al Moawda, who is also authorised to visit prisons “to ascertain the legality of procedures and that inmates, prisoners and detainees were not subjected to torture or inhuman or derogatory treatment”, said he had welcomed Amnesty International to Bahrain, and was now awaiting their report. A recent case of a prisoner being beaten to death had resulted in the arrest and charging of a police officer. He said his staff had now grown to a team of fifty, and he was not aware of any similar system being adopted in any other Arab country.