MPs have come under fire for their handling of an inquiry into the UK’s approach to its Gulf allies after it emerged that evidence from the opposition in the troubled state of Bahrain had been excluded.
Lord Avebury, vice-chairman of the parliamentary human rights committee, said he was “very disturbed” about the omission of dissident voices from a Commons probe into the UK’s relations with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.
In a letter to the foreign affairs committee, which is conducting the inquiry, he said the list of approved submissions published last week excluded “all the pro-democracy and human rights submissions on Bahrain”, while including pro-government contributions.