Bahrain’s Shura Council has rejected an amendment to the penal Code that aimed to introduce equal punishments for people who commit crimes while drunk or high on drugs and those who commit the same offence when sober.

The amendments had already been rejected by MPs in January, despite originally being proposed by parliament last year, said a report in our sister publication, the Gulf Daily News.

Yesterday's decision means the amendments can't be discussed again until a new parliament is elected in October next year.

Shura Council foreign affairs, defence and national security committee chairman Dr Shaikh Khalid bin Khalifa Al Khalifa described the proposed amendments as unjust.

He argued people who committed crimes while intoxicated were not making rational choices and should not be treated the same as those who were sober.

"The amendments, if approved, would have put judges in a tough situation," he said.

"It would have forced them to issue unjust verdicts since it would see them giving the same punishments for crimes, even though some might be premeditated and others not." – TradeArabia News Service