Thaindian News

London, Apr 25 (ANI): Prince Charles and the UK Foreign Office have been criticized by the human rights activists for including the names of dictators in the royal wedding guest list.

Bahrain’s Crown Prince was compelled not to attend the royal wedding due to criticism of his role in a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in his country, The Independent reports.

Human rights activist have vowed to protest during the visit of Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, insisting that he is the chief architect of the Saudi-backed security forces’ violent response to the demonstrators, which have left up to 31 Bahrainis dead.

The prince was due to attend the wedding at the special invitation of the Queen, sitting alongside overseas monarchy, diplomats and Commonwealth heads of state at the front of Westminster Abbey.

Protests are still expected to go ahead despite his absence because of the presence of Saudi Arabia’s Prince Mohamed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz, Zimbabwe’s ambassador to the UK, and the King of Swaziland over human rights abuses in their countries.

Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, said he believed Britain, which is one of the country’s leading trading partners, had asked the Bahraini prince to stay away to prevent further embarrassment.

Bahrainis living in the UK plan to stage demonstrations close to Westminster Abbey at the decision to invite Prince Salman, who has been commander-in-chief of the country’s defense force since 1999.

“We are still very upset because the invitation is still valid. He rejected it,” said Rajab.

“We would like to see the British government fully condemn what is going on, not invite people to a wedding who have blood on their hands,” he added. (ANI)