Bahrain Summons Iraqi Ambassador to Protest VP Remarks on Executions
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Bahrain's foreign ministry summoned Iraq's ambassador in Manama to protest against remarks by Iraqi officials denouncing the execution of three anti-regime activists over their alleged role in a 2014 bomb attack, amid widespread public anger against the death verdicts.
The execution on Sunday of three men has drawn condemnation from rights groups.
Iraqi Vice President Nouri al-Maliki called the execution "an ugly crime" and said it put the Bahraini government in a position of being accused by the international community of systematic killing of its opponents.
The Bahrain foreign ministry said Maliki's remarks and comments by the Iraqi foreign ministry spokesman amounted to an "unacceptable interference" in Manama's internal affairs, Reuters reported.
Bahrain claims the execution was carried out after a judicial process that had convicted the three men - Abbas al-Samea, 27, Sami Mushaima, 42, and Ali al-Singace, 21.
Manama has given a heavy-handed security response to peaceful popular protests, which first began in early 2011. The clampdown has cost scores of lives. Later during the popular uprising, the regime called in Saudi and Emirati reinforcements to help it muffle dissent.
Relations between Baghdad and Iraq's Muslim Arab neighbors, including Bahrain, have been frosty since US forces toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.
