Allegations that the Bahrain government had failed to notify the United Nations that it had cancelled the suspension of certain rights under the State of National Safety have been disproved.

Opposition newspaper Al Wasat claimed yesterday that 'official sources' had confirmed the government had not sent an official letter to the UN Secretary-General reinstating articles of the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).

These articles were frozen with the announcement of the State of National Safety and include civil rights guarantees such as freedom of movement - which was subsequently limited by a curfew and checkpoints - and freedom of assembly, among others.

Article four of the covenant gives each signatory the right to 'derogate', or abstain, from guaranteeing certain rights in times of emergency.

Al Wasat claimed on Friday that seven months after the State of National Safety had been lifted, the government had not officially announced to the UN that the suspension of such rights had been lifted.

However, a UN document obtained by our sister publication, the Gulf Daily News, dated June 13, 2011 clearly proves that the government did in fact inform the UN of the lifting of the State of National Safety and the reinstatement of all rights guaranteed under the ICCPR.

'In terminating the aforementioned derogations, my government wants to underline its commitment to the letter and spirit of the Covenant and to express its hope that all stakeholders will work constructively to create conditions conducive to a genuine and constructive national dialogue,' says a letter to the UN signed by Bahrain's former permanent representative to the UN Tawfeeq Almansoor.

Al Wasat previously caused controversy by publishing false reports during the height of unrest, which wrongly accused security forces of abuses.

The government later proved the abuses had actually taken place in other countries, but the stories published by the newspaper had changed the facts to make it appear they occurred in Bahrain.-TradeArabia News Service