To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the report by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Opinions adopted by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention at its eighty-second session, 20–24 August 2018, published on 7 January, which states that Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei’s family were “deprived of their liberty, interrogated and prosecuted for their family ties…and that these were acts of reprisals”, what assessment they have made of whether the statement by Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior on 10 January disseminates false information about Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei and his family; and whether they will issue a public comment on that statement.
Answered on
4 February 2019
As the Noble Lord will know from previous answers in this House, our Embassy in Bahrain and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office continue to monitor these cases and have received assurances from the Bahraini authorities that the legal cases against Mr Alwadaei’s family members are not related to Mr Al Wadaei’s activities. We are aware of the statement of 10 January from Bahrain’s Ministry of the Interior.