NI firm urged to suspend Bahrain deal over ‘torture’

A HUMAN rights organisation has called for a Northern Ireland company to stop training security forces in Bahrain amid concerns about torture.

Reprieve wants NI- CO, which is owned by Invest NI, to suspend its contract because police and prison officers in the Middle Eastern state systematically abuse government opponents.

The group also wants NI- CO (Northern Ireland Co-operation Overseas) to stop work with Bahrain’s interior ministry until the government ratifies international laws against torture and allows independent UN inspections.

There is no suggestion anyone from NI- CO is complicit in the alleged torture.

But a report by Reprieve entitled Belfast To Bahrain: The Torture Trail said: “Ministers in NI have urgent questions to answer about the company’s activities and the lack of oversight Stormont exercises over NI- CO.

“The company has trained forces who are accused of torturing people to confess to charges that carry the death penalty, as well as supporting institutions that have failed to investigate the abuse.”

NI- CO has worked with Bahrain’s police, prison guards and ombudsman’s office for years and was awarded a £900,000 contract by the Foreign Office to promote human rights reform in Bahrain in 2015, Reprieve said.

No one from NI- CO was immediately available for comment.