Rights Organizations Slam Bahraini Court Ruling, Unfair Trial
The two rights bodies in a joint statement said Bahrain’s First Criminal Court failed to investigate allegations of torture against inmates by prison officials during a September mass trial.
They said they have analyzed more than 3,000 pages of court documents to investigate the inmates’ claim of having been tortured.
“The convictions are part of an ongoing wave of Bahraini authorities’ violations of free expression, assembly, and due process. The appellate court is scheduled to hear an appeal on December 10, 2023, during which it should credibly investigate the defendants’ allegations of torture, which the lower court did not properly investigate,” the statement read.
“The court, confronted with allegations of torture, did not investigate them, and instead relied on testimony by security forces, some of whom are alleged to have committed the abuses,” it added.
On Sept. 26, the court sentenced 13 political prisoners to prison — 12 to three years and one to a one-year jail term — for causing unrest at a prison and using force against prison guards.
The prisoners had launched a protest after an inmate named Abbas Malallah dies in the Jau Prison due to medical neglect in April 2021.
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Human rights violations have been widespread in Bahrain since the start of an uprising in the Persian Gulf island country.
Anti-regime demonstrations have been held in Bahrain regularly ever since the popular uprising began in mid-February 2011.
The participants demand that the Al Khalifah regime relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established.
Manama, however, has gone to great lengths to clamp down on any sign of dissent.
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