Human rights activists have criticised an honorary knighthood given to King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain, who visited the UK earlier this week.
In a letter to Buckingham Palace, three Bahraini activists now living in exile called on King Charles to rescind the Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, describing the award as a “betrayal".
They cited what they called the “arbitrary imprisonment, brutal torture, unfair trials, and arbitrary executions of innocent individuals".
A spokesman for Bahrain's government said it "firmly rejects these baseless claims which overlook the substantial progress the Kingdom has achieved in advancing individual rights and the rule of law".