This is a Guest piece by Séan O'Connell of Ceartas:Irish Lawyers for Human Rights. Ceartas is an independent non-profit organisation that seeks to promote and enforce human rights standards internationally through innovative legal actions. In his guest piece, Sean looks at Ceartas’ recently launched action to the International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) in relation to the removal of Dr Ali bin Fadhel Al-Buainain, the Public Prosecutor of Bahrain, from the Executive Committee of the IAP
Ceartas (Irish Lawyers for Human Rights) represent a group of legal professionals, academics and activists seeking the promotion and protection of international human rights from Ireland. A recent report submitted by Ceartas calls on the International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) and its president, former Irish Director of Public Prosecutions, Mr James Hamilton, to expel the Bahrain representative of their Executive Committee, Attorney General of Bahrain, Dr Ali bin Fadhel Al-Buainain. The legal complaint submitted seeks to trigger the complaints mechanism of the IAP to have Dr Al-Buainain expelled from the Association.
The International Association of Prosecutors and Dr Al-Buainain
The IAP is the only global non-governmental organisation representing prosecutors and is committed to setting and raising standards of professional conduct and ethics for prosecutors worldwide by promoting the rule of law, fairness, impartiality and human rights. Today it has some 145 members from over 96 different countries including the departments of Public Prosecution in Ireland and Bahrain.
The legal analysis carried out by Ceartas found that the Attorney General, Dr Ali bin Fadhel Al-Buainain, as head of the Bahraini Office of Public Prosecution, failed to ensure fair trials and to properly prosecute cases involving torture. The report also demonstrates how Dr Ali bin Fadhel Al-Buainain continues to oversee the prosecution of individuals for expressing political opinions and for engaging in political protest
The actions of Dr Al-Buainain and the Office of Public Prosecution fall short of the high standards demanded through membership of the IAP, which among other things ensures that it’s Executive and organisational members adhere to fair and impartial prosecution standards and to the rights laid down in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. If these standards are to represent a meaningful commitment to human rights by the IAP then Ceartas believes that Dr Al-Buainain must be expelled.
Demand for action and response from the IAP
Responding to the submission of the report from Ceartas, Mr Hamilton agreed to place the issue on the agenda for the IAP’s next meeting and said that it “is something we’re going to look very carefully at”. He also noted that the outcome “will certainly set a precedent for how we deal with a complaint”.
Support for Ceartas action
Those supporting this Ceartas action include the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Front Line Defenders, the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, Gulf Center for Human Rights among others.
Please click here to read the report.