CAT/C/BHR/CO/2-3
(c)
Act No. 52 amending articles 208 and 232 of the Criminal Code to bring the
definition of torture into line with the relevant provisions of the Convention and removing
the statute of limitations for torture, on 3 October 2012;
(d)
Correctional and Rehabilitation Facility Act No. 18, allowing lawyers
representing inmates or persons in pretrial detention in criminal and civil cases to meet with
their clients, in 2014.
5.
The Committee further welcomes the State party’s initiatives to amend its policies,
programmes and administrative measures to give effect to the Convention, including the
adoption of:
(a)
Act No. 1 establishing the National Committee to Combat Trafficking in
Persons, in 2008;
(b)
Royal Decree Law No. 30 establishing the National Fund for the
Compensation of Victims, on 20 September 2011;
(c)
Ministerial Decision No. 14 on the Code of Conduct for Police Officers, in
January 2012.
C.
Principal subjects of concern and recommendations
Discrepancy between the legislative and institutional frameworks and their
implementation in practice
6.
While commending the establishment of the Bahrain Independent Commission of
Inquiry and taking note of the amendments to national legislation concerning the definition
of torture and the establishment of the institutional framework pursuant to the
recommendations of the Commission, the Committee is concerned at the substantial gap
between the amended legislative and institutional frameworks and their effective
implementation in practice with regard to the obligations of the Convention (arts. 2, 4, 10
and 12-13).
7.
The State party should unambiguously proclaim at the highest level that
torture will not be tolerated. It should take the necessary measures to narrow the gap
between the legislative and institutional frameworks and their implementation in
practice by, inter alia, announcing and ensuring that investigations and prosecutions
will be carried out promptly against perpetrators of torture and those with command
responsibility in all cases, and issuing a warning that anyone committing acts of
torture or found to be otherwise complicit or acquiescent in acts of torture will be held
personally responsible before the law and will be subject to criminal prosecution and
appropriate penalties.
Allegations of torture and ill-treatment and related impunity
8.
While taking note that the State party set up the National Commission to follow up
and implement the recommendations contained in the report of the Bahrain Independent
Commission of Inquiry, the Committee is concerned that there continue to be numerous and
consistent allegations of widespread torture and ill-treatment of persons who are deprived
of their liberty in all places of detention and elsewhere, particularly at the Criminal
Investigations Directorate, at the moment of arrest, during pretrial detention and in prisons,
in order to extract confessions or as punishment. It is also concerned at the climate of
impunity which seems to prevail as a result of the low number of convictions for torture
and the sentences given to persons responsible for torture resulting, inter alia, in death,
which are not commensurate with the gravity of the crime (arts. 2, 4, 11-12 and 14-16).
9.
The State party should:
(a)
Take additional measures to effectively implement the recommendations
of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, in particular recommendation No.
1719 on investigating cases of alleged torture and ill-treatment;
2