King Charles has been requested by exiles from Bahrain to rescind an honour he bestowed this week on the ruler of the Gulf kingdom.
Charles was instructed in a letter by the exiles: “It’s personally tough for us to view this honour as something aside from a betrayal of victims who’ve suffered by the hands of King Hamad and his brutal regime.”
Buckingham Palace had been accused of “burying” the information that Charles had bestowed the Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) on King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa.
It was the Gulf state’s official information company that introduced on Tuesday that Charles had made the award, which was lined on the entrance pages of Bahrain’s newspapers.
Nonetheless, Bahraini exiles within the UK and supporters have questioned why no point out was fabricated from the award in Buckingham Palace’s personal announcement that Charles had hosted Bahrain’s king at Windsor Citadel.
The awarding of the honour, the very best that the British monarch could make, was introduced by Buckingham Palace in a press launch issued on Wednesday night.
The Bahraini authorities has in impact silenced political opposition, banned impartial media and subjected inner opponents to brutal therapy together with torture and denial of medical care, in line with Human Rights Watch.
One of many signatories to the letter to Charles was Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, who was granted refugee standing within the UK in 2012 and described himself in it as a “sufferer of King Hamad’s regime” and a survivor of torture.
“We sincerely hope that the extent and gravity of our struggling is conveyed by this letter and offers adequate motive for Your Majesty to urgently rethink the choice and rescind the award to Bahrain’s king,” Charles was instructed within the letter.
Bahraini newspapers have lined the award prominently on their entrance pages, together with with photos of Charles and King Hamad.
Alastair Lengthy, the British ambassador to Bahrain, mentioned in a submit on Instagram that Charles held a dinner in honour of King Hamad’s silver jubilee and “appreciated that King Hamad’s rule has been guided by concern and look after his individuals”.
Nonetheless, Brian Dooley, a senior adviser to the activist group Human Rights First, mentioned: “It’s startling to see King Hamad being rewarded with social honours when his unelected authorities has been responsible of so many crimes, together with the torture of human rights activists, for therefore a few years.
“He isn’t a figurehead, he’s accountable for – and chargeable for – his authorities’s actions. Why any self-respecting nation would need to affiliate with him is baffling.”
The UK has deep commerce and defence ties to Bahrain, which gained independence from Britain in 1971 and has served as a base for British naval operations.
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