Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to Early Day Motion 630 of Session 2019-21, if he will (a) publicly condemn the 15 June 2020 decision of Bahrain’s highest court to uphold death sentences against Husain Abdullah Khalil Rashid and Zuhair Ibrahim Jasim Abdullah following concerns of serious due process violations and the alleged coercion of Zuhair’s confession through torture and (b) make representations to his counterpart in Bahrain on the immediate commutation of their death sentences.
We have raised the cases of Zuhair Ibrahim Jasim Abdullah and Hussein Abdullah Khalil Rashid at a senior level with the Government of Bahrain.
The Government of Bahrain is fully aware that the UK is firmly opposed to the death penalty, in all circumstances. The right to a fair trial is enshrined in the constitution of Bahrain; we continue to encourage the Government of Bahrain to follow due process in all cases and meet its international and domestic human rights commitments.