Bahrain Convicts 51 People in Mass Trial Marred by Torture Confessions Due Process Violations
Bahrain’s High Criminal Court has issued a judgement convicting 51 individuals to prison sentences ranging from five years to life imprisonment in a mass trial in Manama this morning. Defendants, over half of whom were sentenced in absentia, were convicted on charges including organising and financing a militant group, providing weapons training, committing arson and being in possession of Molotov cocktails. According to family members of one defendant interviewed and according to Documentations of some cases made by ADHRB, the trial was marred by due process violations and the use of evidence obtained under torture.
According to the Bahrain News Agency, Bahrain’s Public Prosecution ordered 52 individuals to be tried after 25 were arrested last year and charged with establishing, organising and managing a group under the guidance of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Prosecutors claimed that defendants planned to target “economic and vital installations, security patrol sites, the headquarters of the Ministry of Interior and (the) Bahrain Defense Force.” Some defendants were also accused of targeting a bank ATM and a transportation company.
Following a public trial on 3 November 2020 during which the court reportedly heard evidence from both defence and prosecution witnesses, the High Criminal Court issued sentences including fines amounting to 100,000 Bahraini Dinars (BD) for seventeen of the defendants (the equivalent of approximately £204,000) and BD 51,400 for three others, as well as allegedly seizing explosive devices including Molotov cocktails. The most severe convictions were lengthy prison sentences ranging from 5 years to life imprisonment for an unknown number of defendants. One defendant was acquitted.
Read the full report here.
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