The Secretary-General of the Arab League Dr. Nabil Al Arabi, who is currently visiting Bahrain, said that Shaikh Khalid discussed with him HM King Hamad’s pioneering initiative to establish and Arab Human Rights Tribunal, noting that Bahrain will submit an official memo in this regard during the Arab League’s meeting next March.
“The idea of HM King Hamad to establish an Arab Human Rights Tribunal in fact reflects the Bahrain’s civilization, intellectual, legal and political development history,” he explained, adding that the idea of setting up a court will be discussed at the Arab League Summit in March this year.
Dr Alarbi said that Arab Spring has put forth new challenges for the entire region which needs to be addressed through innovative and modern approach.
Dr Al Arabi, who addressed a Press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Bahrain along with Bahrain’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Shaikh Khalid, said that Arab League was like an old car of 1945 model which needs to be replaced.
“We are in discussions with all member states to bring changes to this 67 years old regional body and see how things will take shape with input from all member states. We are conscious of the requirements of the present challenges being faced by the world,” Dr Al Arabi added.
Al Arabi praised the steps and landmark initiatives taken by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to introduce massive reforms aimed at bringing equality, further stability as well as introducing freedom in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
He joined Bahrain Foreign Affairs Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, and praised Bahrain’s reforms project and said that he got detailed view of the steps taken by Bahrain in the wake of unfortunate incidents of February and March 2011.
Shaikh Khalid said that he briefed Dr Al Arabi on the landmark decisions taken by HM King Hamad on his address to the nation today, adding that the Arab League head will hold talks and meetings with the political leadership.
“I held very conducive talks with the Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid who briefed in a detail about the all aspects of events Bahrain been through in the past one year. Bahrain’s position is very explicit and transparent in dealing with the internal issues and I really value the steps taken by the Government,” Dr Al Arabi, said.
The visiting Arab League’s head also lauded HM King’s vision to set up Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) to look into the events of February and March, 2011.
He termed the step of establishing the BICI as unprecedented and bold in the Arab world and said the entire process from setting up BICI and through implementation of the recommendations Bahrain set a new benchmark in the region.
Dr. Al Arabi also expressed the Arab League’s appreciation of HM the King’s sound and constructive ways in dealing with last year’s incidents, asserting that the establishment of a fact-finding commission and implementation of its recommendations are the best ways to address the crisis in Bahrain and should be applied to solve similar ones in the region.
He said that Bahrain’s Foreign Minister had updated him on the measures and steps taken so far by the Kingdom to address the repercussions of last year’s events, what has been implemented so far regarding BICI recommendations and the keynote speech delivered by HM King Hamad this morning.