Alwaght- British police is under criticism after it refused to reveal the details of its training deal with Bahraini forces, The Guardian reports.
The College of Policing (CoP) which sets standards for UK officers and offers worldwide training courses, has made controversial deals with regimes in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to train their police members.
Member of British parliament criticized the force for its “totally unacceptable” opacity around the college’s provision of training to Saudi Arabia less than two months ago.
Now human rights groups demand clarity over a similar deal with Bahraini forces who are globally known for their crackdown on the recent protestors in the tiny Persian Gulf Island and numerous instances of human rights violations.
Last month, members of the home affairs select committee said greater transparency was needed, and criticized the then foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, for avoiding the public scrutiny of deals with unsavory regimes.
Bahraini security forces crack downed on opposition groups who began their democracy-seeking demonstrations in 2011 calling for equity for the majority Shiite population. Civil demonstrations were suppressed Al Khalifa regime cultivating in a deadly night raid on 17 February 2011 against protesters at the Pearl Roundabout in Manama known locally as Bloody Thursday.
A recent wave of protests erupted when the Monarchy stripped Sheikh Qassim, a prominent opposition leader, off his Bahraini nationality. Security forces responded with aggressive crackdown and massive detention of protestor.
“The Foreign Office should not hide behind any relationship with foreign governments under the guise of ‘commercial sensitivity’,” they said. However, human rights groups have now claimed the CoP continues to cite similar concerns in refusing to divulge details of its dealings with Bahrain.
In response to a letter from Reprieve group, the college outlined general parts of its training program since 2013, admitting it had seconded staff to Bahrain in that time, but refused to give specific details concerning the nature of its task in a country with a dark history of human rights violations.
“The college’s culture of secrecy around international training must end now,” said Maya Foa, the director of Reprieve’s death penalty team.
“[It] must come clean about its business in Bahrain, where prisoners like Mohammed Ramadan face execution for ‘confessions’ obtained under torture, and the human rights situation gets worse by the day.”
Mohammad Ramadan was sentenced to death by Bahraini monarchy for his role in recent protests, however the regime falsely accused him of killing a policeman based on confessions taken under torture from one of his friends. Mohammad never confessed to the crime despite being tortured for a long time.
Index on Censorship also criticized the deal saying it was “extremely worried” about the deal and the secrecy surrounding it.
Reprieve group announced it has found that the college has been “teaching CSI skills that it admits could lead to suspects being arrested and tortured” in Saudi Arabia.
“Bahrain is a country that has previously ordered the 15-day detention of a poet, and which last year stripped 72 people of their citizenship – including journalists and bloggers – for simply voicing their criticism of the current regime,” Index’s deputy chief executive, Rachael Jolley, said.
Earlier this month, the Observer revealed that an agreement signed by the CoP and Bahrain’s interior ministry set out the commercial ground on which their relationship would be built but omitted any mention of human rights issues.
