9 Jan 2012 Gulf Daily news
TWO top British lawyers have been appointed to assist the government in pushing through the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) recommendations on human rights.
Sir Daniel Bethlehem KCMG QC, former principal legal adviser to the UK Foreign Office, and Sir Jeffrey Jowell QC, emeritus professor of public law at University College London, will begin their work this month.
They will be joined shortly by other top international lawyers with expertise in areas such as international human rights and civil law, relevant to the implementation of the BICI proposals.
Sir Daniel and Sir Jeffrey will be responsible for advising on accountability mechanisms, including establishing a national watchdog to bring to justice police officers responsible for torture, death or mistreatment of civilians.
The government has pledged that the BICI proposals will be implemented by February-end. Many of the these have been carried out, and others partially done or are in progress through the National Commission.
The government and the National Commission have taken action in the following areas:
l All charges against protesters relating to freedom of speech have been dropped;
l All public sector employees dismissed for free speech activity have been reinstated; private sector employees' reinstatement under discussion;
l A judicial panel of civilian judges has been set up to review convictions and verdicts on protesters by the National Safety Courts;
l The Public Prosecutor is pursuing 28 police and security officers over deaths and torture since the BICI report, in addition to 20 already probed;
l The National Security Agency has been stripped of its law enforcement and arrest powers, and its chief replaced;
l All interviews by police of civilian suspects will be recorded on film;
l An extensive public order, arrest and detention training will be conducted by retired British and US officers;
l A recruitment drive has been launched to create 500 jobs for all sections of Bahrain's society within the Interior Ministry at the officer level to support an expansion of community police operations;
l A panel has been set up for the reconstruction of mosques, with work underway on four sites.
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National Commission