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Manama: The government here is considered granting inmates special private visitation privileges with their life partners every three to four months, the parliament was told on Thursday.
Parliament's Foreign Affairs, Defence and National Security Committee through its member Abdul Hussain Al Mutgawi demanded in a meeting that such facilities should be offered every visit, but the request was declined.
Captain Samir Al Baharna from the Ministry of Interior said there was a plan to provide the service every four months to be able to include all inmates.
He said that offering such facilities every visit would mean the allocation of a building to accommodate the large number of couples involved.
He said that the ministry's Legal Affairs Committee studied the proposal and decided its implementation would meet Islamic requirements.
According to regulations, inmates can be visited twice a month and given free phone calls 30 minutes a week.
Draft law
MP Jalal Fairoz asked for the time allowed for free phone calls to be increased but his request was also declined as the ministry's officials said that the calls were only allowed for inmates to call their relatives, while calls for lawyers or other official paperwork were not counted.
The meeting was part of deliberations for a draft law to regulate the stay of inmates at detention centres.
The bill that was drafted by the government is supported by the panel because of its importance to provide better services for inmates, Al Mutghawi told the meeting.
He said that the draft law is aimed at giving more freedom and facilities for inmates such as the right to worship according to their faith and to be provided with better reformation activities.
It is expected to be deliberated soon during a public session by the legislative authority to replace the prison law ratified in 1964. It bans prison administrations from imposing any disciplinary action against inmates before written interrogations to allow them to defend themselves.
To eliminate the poor treatment of prisoners, inmates have the right to challenge punishments by seeking legal or court assistance.
The draft law is aimed at enhancing Bahrain's image in promoting human rights principles. It stresses the provision of good living conditions for inmates and services to enable them to leave their criminal past behind.
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