Bahrain misinformation about the UN exposed and – hopefully – it backfires

Amidst the many reports on violations of human rights in Bahrain, especially the vulnerable situation of human rights defenders, a surprising announcement caught my eye on 8 June: the GULF DAILY NEWS – The voice of Bahrain stated under the headline “UN raps lies about Bahrain” that:  “A top UN official yesterday admitted it received false information about what happened in Bahrain during the unrest. “Certain information which we received about the developments in Bahrain was untrue,” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) Dr Navi Pillay said as she held talks with Social Development Minister and Acting Health Minister Dr Fatima Al Balooshi, on the sidelines of a meeting of the Children’s Rights Committee in Geneva. Dr Pillay acknowledged that the situation in Bahrain is by far different, and is thus incomparable to ongoing unrest in other countries in the region….Dr Al Balooshi briefed Dr Pillay on the current situation in Bahrain, stressing that things had returned to normal {sic}.”

So I was very relieved to read just now that UN rights chief slams ‘blatant distortion’ in reports of her meeting with Bahrain officials (AP, UPI and many others).  The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, sharply criticizes Bahrain for inaccurate reports by its state-run news agency on her meeting with government officials in Geneva last week and flatly denies telling Bahrain officials that her office received “misinformation” about Bahrain’s crackdown on anti-government protesters. Her spokesman, Rupert Colville, says that the High Commissioner “made no such statement and is disturbed by this blatant distortion of her words” and that she will formally request government officials who attended the meeting to issue a correction.

And I now see that the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA) declines responsibility referring to the report it received from the Ministry of Social Development, but this statement contains no such quote from the High Commissioner, see for yourself on http://www.bna.bh/portal/en/news/459935!