Renewed calls for UK University to cut ties with Bahrain police force

Britain’s University of Huddersfield has faced renewed calls by politicians and human rights groups to sever relations with Bahrain’s security services. The University runs a masters degree programme in security sciences at the Royal Academy of Police where it has previously been accused of being a “torture hub”.

A recent report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) has alleged that people have been tortured at Bahrain’s Interior Ministry, and that this has been supported by British taxpayers as the Ministry and other security bodies in the country have received millions of pounds worth of funding through the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s Gulf Strategy Fund.

The Bahrain Embassy in London denied the claims by saying the country had “a zero-tolerance policy towards mistreatment of any kind”, while the Foreign Office defended its support by insisting that withdrawing funding would be “counterproductive”.

In the 61-page report produced by HRW and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), it has been claimed that courts in Bahrain have dismissed credible allegations of torture and ill-treatment of suspects and routinely violated defendants’ rights to a fair trial.  The cases of eight men who allege they were tortured at the Bahraini Interior Ministry’s criminal investigation directorate are also documented in the findings.

“In case after case, courts convicted defendants of the crime of homicide and sentenced them to death based solely or primarily on confessions that the defendants (or co-defendants) alleged were coerced through torture and ill-treatment,” the report said.

Both the HRW and BIRD have renewed calls on the British government to suspend funding to a number of Bahraini state institutions and requested that the EU take “targeted measures” against Bahraini officials responsible for the abuses.

READ: UK funds Bahrain security services with millions, despite torture

The BBC, using Freedom of Information requests, has estimated that since 2017 the University of Huddersfield may have earned over one million pounds by providing training to the Bahraini police force.

Lord Paul Scriven, who is part of the All Parliamentary Group for Democracy and Human Rights in the Gulf, has been among those calling on the Institution to sever its links with the Bahraini authorities. “They need to stand back, reflect and look at the potential implication of their Institution being highlighted in human rights abuses”, the Liberal Democrat peer said.

“It’s down to the Vice-Chancellor, Bob Cryan, to come out with concrete evidence to prove that since his Institution was in Bahrain, that the Academy of Police hasn’t been implicated in human rights abuses. If he can’t do that then he has to close down this course”.

According to the BBC, the University has since stated that it will not comment further on any of the allegations outlined, and that it would respond to Lord Scriven’s letter in due course.