Bahrain TV Conducts Lengthy Interview with BHRM

On 24 October 2009, the Bahrain TV conducted a lengthy interview which lasted for more than an hour with Hasan Moosa Shafaei, and

was hosted by the journalist, Sowsan Al Shair. During the interview many political and human rights issues were discussed including the release of the Karazcan detainees. Mr. Shafaei said that the verdict reached by the Court, which cleared the accused, reveals that the margin of of the independence of the Judiciary in Bahrain is wide. He also explained that a calm security situation will reduce the amount of support to advocators of violence and extremists.

With regards to International Reports on Bahrain, Mr. Shafaei described them as important and stated that they should not be left to accumulate without any Governmental clarification or correction, because this would give a negative and unrealistic picture about the human rights situation in Bahrain. Mr. Shafaei called on the Government to assess these reports and answer any queries put forward by international human rights organisations. He added that the Government’s efforts regarding this issue are inadequate due to the lack of a special governmental body that deals with this matter.