Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the incident at Jau Prison on 17 April 2021, what representations he will make to his Bahraini counterpart on (a) inviting the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture to visit and (b) allowing (i) Human Rights Watch, (ii) Amnesty International and (iii) other human rights organisations and monitoring bodies to enter Bahrain.

We understand that the Government of Bahrain has taken steps to engage with the United Nations, and we continue to encourage this engagement. We understand that the Ombudsman has reached out to Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, noting that they are keen to work cooperatively on accusations raised by the Non-governmental organisations (NGOs). We encourage both Amnesty and Human Rights Watch to accept this offer of engagement.