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Motion for a resolution - B8-0150/2017Motion for a resolution
B8-0150/2017

MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on executions in Kuwait and Bahrain

14.2.2017 - (2017/2564(RSP))

with request for inclusion in the agenda for a debate on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law
pursuant to Rule 135 of the Rules of Procedure

Cristian Dan Preda, Tomáš Zdechovský, Ildikó Gáll-Pelcz, Pavel Svoboda, Thomas Mann, Therese Comodini Cachia, Brian Hayes, Sven Schulze, Patricija Šulin, Marijana Petir, Agnieszka Kozłowska-Rajewicz, Claude Rolin, Milan Zver, Romana Tomc, Eva Maydell, Deirdre Clune, Ivana Maletić, Željana Zovko, Csaba Sógor, Adam Szejnfeld, Dubravka Šuica, Roberta Metsola, Giovanni La Via, Elisabetta Gardini, Mairead McGuinness, Elżbieta Katarzyna Łukacijewska, Laima Liucija Andrikienė, Ivan Štefanec, Bogdan Brunon Wenta, Luis de Grandes Pascual, Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso, Seán Kelly, Andrey Kovatchev, Jiří Pospíšil on behalf of the PPE Group

See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B8-0150/2017

Procedure : 2017/2564(RSP)
Document stages in plenary
Document selected :  
B8-0150/2017
Texts tabled :
B8-0150/2017
Debates :
Texts adopted :

B8‑0150/2017

European Parliament resolution on executions in Kuwait and Bahrain

(2017/2564(RSP))

The European Parliament,

 

– having regard to its previous resolutions on Bahrain, notably of 3 February 2016 on the case of Mohammed Ramadan and of 7 July 2016 on Bahrain, and on Death penalty of 8 October 2015,

 

– having regard to the statement of 15 January 2017 by the Spokesperson of Vice-President/High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini on the execution carried out in Bahrain and the one of 25 January 2017 on the recent executions in the State of Kuwait,

 

– having regard to the Joint Declaration of 10 October 2015 by the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, on behalf of the EU, and the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, on the European and World Day against the Death Penalty,

 

– having regard to the statement of 25 January 2017 by the UN Special Rapporteur on summary executions, Agnes Callamard, and on Torture, Nils Melzer urgently calling for the government of Bahrain to stop new executions, and the statement of 17 January 2017 by the spokesperson of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Rupert Colville on Bahrain,

 

– having regard to Article 2 of the European Convention of Human Rights and to its Protocols 6 and 13;

 

– having regard to Articles 1 and 2 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,

– having regard to the Cooperation Agreement between the European Union, its Member States, and countries of the Cooperation Council for Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) of 1988,

– having regard to the conclusions of the 25th EU-GCC Joint Council and Ministerial Meeting of 18 July 2016,

– having regard to United Nations General Assembly Resolutions, in particular the one of 18 December 2014, and the most recent of 19 December 2016, both on the moratorium on the use of the death penalty,

 

– having regard to the UN Human Rights Committee “Concluding observations on the third periodic report of Kuwait” of 11 August 2016,

 

– having regard to the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, particularly Articles 3, 5, and 11,

 

– having regard to Rule 135 of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas abolition of the death penalty worldwide is one of the main objectives of the EU’s human rights policy;

 

B. whereas according to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights more than 160 UN Members States, with a variety of legal systems, traditions, cultures and religious backgrounds, have either abolished the death penalty or do not practise it;

 

C. whereas on 15 January 2017, Ali Al-Singace, Abbas Al-Samea and Sami Mushaima were executed in Bahrein by firing squad, ending a six-year moratorium; whereas the three men are the first Bahrainis executed since 1996; whereas they were executed less than a week after their death sentences were confirmed;

 

D. whereas Bahraini authorities stress all three men were tried at all three levels of the country’s judicial system and convicted based on “clear and convincing evidence”;

 

E. whereas the United Nations Special Rapporteur on summary, extrajudicial or arbitrary executions declared these executions “extrajudicial killings” on the basis that all three men were not afforded the fair trial rights enshrined in Article 14 of the ICCPR;

 

F. whereas the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said it was “appalled” by the executions and that there were “serious doubts” that the men received a fair trial;

G. whereas on 25 January 2017, Kuwait's authorities executed seven prisoners ([1]) convicted for different criminal offences (including murder, attempted murder, kidnapping and rape), among which there was a member of the royal family; whereas five of the prisoners were foreigners and three of them women; whereas the executions were the first in the country since 2013, when Kuwaiti authorities executed five people after a six-year moratorium;

 

H. whereas Kuwait’s authorities stressed that the death penality was only issued after a lenghty and fair public trial that included multiple witness testimonies and other evidence and, Kuwaiti national laws surrounding the death penality are guaranteed as part of an independent and neutral judiciary and is only used after exhausting all other legal means;

 

1. Recognises the serious nature of the crimes involved in both Kuwait and Bahrain but shows its concern about the recent decisions adopted by Bahraini and Kuwaiti courts that imply to abandon the moratorium on the implementation of capital punishment and calls on their respective competent authorities for the permanent suspension of future executions as a step towards abolition;

 

2. Condemns the executions of Ali Al-Singace, Abbas Al-Samea and Sami Mushaima on 15 January 2017 in Bahrain and of Mohammad Shahed Mohammad Sanwar Hussain, Jakatia Midon Pawa, Amakeel Ooko Mikunin, Nasra Youseff Mohammad al-Anzi, Sayed Radhi Jumaa, Sameer Taha Abdulmajed Abduljaleel, Faysal Abdullah Jaber Al Sabah on 25 January 2017 In Kuwait;

 

3. Welcomes the ongoing and historic good relationship between the European Union, its Member States, and Kuwait and Bahrain;

 

4. Notes that while the death penalty is not prohibited under international law, there is considerable international pressure for its abolition; further believes that capital punishment is a cruel and inhuman, that the use of the death penalty undermines human dignity and that there is no conclusive evidence of its deterrent value;

 

5. Rejects violence as a political tool and fully supports the stability and development of the Kingdom of Bahrain;

 

6. Believes that continued international support to the Government of Bahrain in the full implementation of its human rights, judicial, and political reform programme, as recommended in the BICI report, can contribute to its reinstatement of a moratorium on the death penalty; further encourages similar efforts in Kuwait;

 

7. Encourages dialogue, bilateral and multilateral initiatives between the European Union, its Member States, and Gulf countries including Kuwait and Bahrain, on issues relating to human rights, as well as in other areas of mutual interests;

 

8. Further requests the EEAS and the EU Member States to continue advocating for the global abolition of the death penalty and to use all diplomatic tools at their disposal for that goal, including human rights dialogues, cooperation in multinational fora and organising awareness-raising campaign activities to this end;

 

9. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice‑President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Government and Parliament of the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Government and Parliament of the State of Kuwait and the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.