Bahrain Mirror: Ombudsman Nawaf Al-Moawda stated that, during the period between May 1st 2014 and April 30, 2015, the Secretariat of Ombudsman "received 908 grievances including 319 complaints and 589 help requests."

As he presented the second Annual Report, Al-Moawda said that the Ombudsman Secretariat investigated 11 death cases, adding that the use of non-prescribed medication or illicit drugs caused or contributed to some of the death cases.

Al-Moawda further stated that the ministry of interior implemented some of the Ombudsman's recommendations, such as detaining youths in a separate facility. He highlighted that there are new facilities at Dry Dock Detention Centre dedicated to house convicted young persons aged between 15 and 18 and youths between the age of 18 and 21 years.

Al-Moawda also pointed out that the Ombudsman Secretariat took on the investigations of serious complaints that include abuse, torture, maltreatment and other serious claims.

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights had previously announced that it considers the Ombudsman to be a dependent governmental institution, and accused it of contributing to the cover-up of human rights violations committed by the ministry of interior.

The Arabic Issue