Bahrain Mirror: The British daily, The Times, said on its website that Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa filed a legal complaint against the newspaper over an article, citing criticism of the decision to sit Queen Elizabeth II next to King Hamad at her 90th birthday celebrations.

The article, entitled "Fury as Bahrain's king is given seat beside Queen," starts off by stating: "This article is the subject of a legal complaint from His Majesty King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa."

"The Queen was at the centre of a row over human rights last night after criticism of the decision to sit her next to King Hamad of Bahrain at her 90th birthday celebrations in Windsor," noted The Times.

The seating of the King of Bahrain next to Queen at her 90th birthday "extravaganza" made headlines in the UK, as it was condemned by campaigners critical of the Gulf kingdom's human rights record.

Meanwhile, Russia Today wondered in an article published on its website whether Bahrain's funding of the British in the island kingdom is the reason behind the King Hamad's seating next to the Queen at the Windsor Castle evening party that included a parade of 900 horses - 10 for each of the Queen's years.

"Bahrain is one of the sponsors of the Royal Windsor Horse Show, but Britain shares more interests with the Gulf island kingdom than equestrian pursuits," RT further stated.

"King Hamad is far from a stranger to the British royals, with the families developing a close relationship that spans several decades. They have continued to develop ties, even in the wake of public criticism over Bahrain's treatment of protesters during the 2011 Arab Spring," RT stressed.

For his part, Amnesty International UK's head of policy and government affairs Allan Hogarth told The Independent: "King Hamad presumably enjoyed his ringside seat at the Queen's birthday bash, but the disturbing reality for people back in Bahrain is a never-ending cycle of arrests, tear-gas raids, torture in detention and long prison sentences for peaceful protesters."

As for Human Rights Watch, it said that it was an "error of judgment" to place the Queen next to the head of a country "with a grisly human rights record".

Nicholas McGeehan, a gulf researcher at HRW, told The Independent: "In isolation it looks like an injudicious decision to seat King Hamad next to the Queen, but the reality is that the British monarchy have maintained close ties with the Al-Khalifas in even bloodier times and more repressive times in Bahrain."

"It will no doubt be hugely pleasing to the current British government who have been over backwards to demonstrate their friendship to Bahrain's rulers and been shamefully silent over their human rights abuses," he added.

The Independent further highlighted that "according to a report by Amnesty the government of Bahrain in the past year has ‘continued to curtail freedoms of expression, association and assembly and cracked down further on online and other dissent.'"

It adds: "Opposition leaders remained imprisoned; some were prisoners of conscience. Torture and other ill-treatment remained common. Scores were sentenced to long prison terms after unfair trials. Authorities stripped at least 208 people of their Bahraini nationality. Eight people were sentenced to death; there were no executions."

Referring to the organisers of the Royal Windsor Horse show, a Buckingham Palace source told The Independent the King of Bahrain was there "at their behest".

H Power, a privately owned events management company responsible for the smooth delivery of the annual horse show, said "he was there because he supports the horse show" but refused to elaborate further.

"Why would Britain associate itself so closely with such a regime? The British government has every reason to promote this royal friendship," stressed RT, noting that last year, the UK began constructing a new £15 million ($23 million) Royal Navy facility in Bahrain, which will become the first permanent British military base in the Middle East in over four decades - a base mainly funded by the Bahraini royal family and is expected to accommodate Britain's new Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers and Type 45 destroyers.

Arabic Version