Bahrain Mirror: The head of Bahrain's parliamentary delegation to Geneva, and first deputy of Bahraini Parliamentary Speaker, Ali al-Aradi, strongly criticized the stances of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad, and said his statements came "contrary to the aspirations of having him in this position."

In a statement to the Bahrain News Agency "BNA" on Saturday (September 17, 2016), al-Aradi said that "the latest stances of the High Commissioner came contrary to the aspirations of having him in this position. The parliamentary delegation believes that anyone who wants to cooperate with any party state in this significant issue must present his vision with objectivity. He does not need to prove his impartiality and independence from the Arab community, through using unproductive language, which could be a direct result of false and politicized reports and information."

The High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid bin Ra'ad had criticized Bahrain's record of human rights violations in his speech delivered on Tuesday morning (September 13, 2016), at the UN headquarters in Geneva, at the opening of the 33rd session of the Human Rights Council. Zeid's stances triggered the Bahraini government's anger.

"We anticipated good things from appointing an Arab figure in this important position, which we believed would show the whole world that, although human rights were first written in 1948 in the international declaration, yet the Arab and Islamic worlds were ahead of this history. The promotion and protection of these rights are a religious and Arab concept," the Bahraini parliamentary representative added.

Al-Aradi further stressed that "the surprising attitude and unproductive language that the High Commissioner used in his latest statements on the Kingdom of Bahrain is a direct outcome of politicization."

Al-Aradi said that the parliamentary delegation, which included him and MP Dr. Sheikh Majid al-Asfour, MP Ibrahim al-Hamade, and MP Jalal Kazim, comes to show what the Kingdom of Bahrain has achieved by its reform project launched by the King, and what the executive authority is doing, and to clarify facts in a true objective image. He claimed that the Kingdom of Bahrain is "keener to protect the rights of its citizens than any other party, institution or organization". The Bahraini MP further claimed that Bahrain has gone a long way to establish national mechanisms and institutions, and enact legislations and laws to promote and protect human rights.

Moreover, Al-Aradi indicated that it is "incredible how states that are involved in violations are not held accountable, like the Zionist entity, which commits daily massacres, while countries are targeted, especially with a clear politicization of this issue."

On another note, Al-Aradi claimed that the delegation exposed "the dangerous Iranian agenda and its interference in the Kingdom's affairs, as it is attempting to undermine the stability of the GCC countries."

Arabic Version