PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Bahrain (15 December 2014)

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, which human rights concerns he discussed with the Undersecretary at the Bahrain Ministry of Foreign Affairs during his visit to London in December 2014.

Asked by:
Kerry McCarthy (Labour)

I co-chaired the UK-Bahrain Joint Working Group meeting on 4 December with the Undersecretary of the Bahraini Ministry of the Interior, H.E Abdullah Abdulatif Abdulla. We discussed progress on the implementation of the recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry Report, and UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review. We agreed that the UK would continue to provide assistance to Bahrain’s reform programme, with a continuing focus on strengthening human rights and the rule of law. We also discussed the death of Hasan al-Shaikh, an inmate at the Reformation and Rehabilitation Centre, and the importance of carrying out a thorough and transparent investigation. I will continue to encourage the Government of Bahrain to advance the democratisation and human rights agenda.

Answered by:
Mr Tobias Ellwood (Conservative)
18 December 2014