مذكرتا إحاطة بشأن قتل المهاجرين في البحر الأبيض المتوسط والبحرين

Spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: Rupert Colville
Location: Geneva
Date: 19 September 2014

1) Murder of migrants in the Mediterranean

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein has just issued a news release urging Egypt and other North African and European States with relevant information to make a concerted effort to bring to justice the people smugglers who allegedly deliberately sank a boat causing the deaths of between 300 and 500 refugees and migrants in the Mediterranean last week.

High Commissioner Zeid stresses that it is crucial to bring to an end the prevailing impunity surrounding such crimes and is urging States to do more to address the root causes driving people to make such dangerous journeys.

The press release contains more information as well as a wider analysis of the need to tackle the root causes of migrant and refugee movements. The full press release can be viewed at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=15069&LangID=E

2) Bahrain

We welcome the conditional release of Bahraini human rights defender Maryam Al-Khawaja, who had been in detention since her arrest at Manama airport on 30 August. We will be closely watching the results of the judicial hearing on her case, which is scheduled to take place at the High Criminal Court of Bahrain on 1 October.

Al-Khawaja was detained while travelling to Bahrain on her Danish passport to visit her father, Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2011 and whose health condition is reportedly deteriorating. Maryam Al-Khawaja was detained at the airport, apparently because her Bahraini passport had expired. She was then transferred to a women’s prison on charges of assaulting a police officer. We are concerned that Ms. Al-Khawaja's detention was related to her work to promote human rights in Bahrain through the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, of which she is co-director.

The UN Human Rights Office has been in touch with the authorities to raise our concerns on this case, and on other cases where individuals may have been detained for the peaceful exercise of their rights.

ENDS

For more information or media requests, please contact Rupert Colville (+41 22 917 9767 /rcolville@ohchr.org) or Ravina Shamdasani (+41 22 917 9169 / rshamdasani@ohchr.org)

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