Bahrain’s rights organization slams silence on Qatar’s targeting of local fishermen

Bahrain’s human rights body slammed the silence over Qatar’s continuous targeting of native fishermen within the kingdom’s territorial waters, state news organisation BNA reportable.

The National establishment for Human Rights (NIHR) expressed concern over the silence of NGOs on Qatar’s violations of human rights, BNA reported on Friday, while not naming the defendant organizations. Bahrain’s Interior Minister Rashid Al-Khalifa issued a warning to Qatari authorities earlier on and delineated Qatar’s actions towards Bahraini fishermen as “brutal.”

The minister same that in the last ten years, Qatar had stopped many boats with official Bahraini IDs when claiming they were in Qatari waters. However, the fishermen had been fishing in those areas for centuries without any violation, the minister said, adding that it was well known that those areas were part of Bahrain.

The minister said the fishermen were arrested in a hostile and humiliated manner. “According to Bahraini fishermen, they were stopped in Bahrain’s water, and we won’t accept this,” he said.