A number of Bahraini MPs, who were forcibly exiled outside their country, signed a letter to the Secretary-General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, Martin Chongong, affirming that Bahrain is still far from the standards and principles of democracy and equality promoted by the Union.
The former MPs, Sheikh Hassan Sultan, Jawad Fairouz, Jalal Fayrouz, Matar Matar, and Ali Al-Aswad, signed a letter in which they said, “We, the undersigned, former forcibly exiled Bahraini members of parliament, express our grave concern about the meetings of the 146th Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) held in the Kingdom of Bahrain, where hundreds of citizens are languishing in Bahraini prisons, including opposition leaders, scholars, academics, human rights defenders, and activists on charges related to exercising their right to opinion and expression and calling for dialogue and democratic transformation.”
They added, “The government targeted, arrested, tortured, imprisoned, and stripped the citizenship of former parliamentarians. Many of them were also subjected to unfair judicial prosecution and their citizenship revoked.”
In their letter, they said: “Because the IPU conference represents an opportunity to raise issues of human rights and democratic principles in a way that provides space for open dialogue, we call on the Secretary-General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union to call on the Government of Bahrain: to release all political prisoners, allow formation of opposition political societies, and to engaging in a serious and comprehensive national political dialogue.
