Bahraini courts issued death sentences for 32 anti-regime activists since 2011

Rasa - The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) has condemned the kingdom’s persistence on passing death sentences against anti-regime activists, calling the practice an “inhuman punishment” as the ruling Al Khalifah regime presses ahead with its heavy clampdown on political dissidents and pro-democracy activists in the kingdom.

News ID: 441553

Date: 15 November 2018 - 21:40

RNA - The center, in a statement released on Tuesday, announced that law courts have issued death sentences against 32 opposition figures since 2011, of which three have been carried out, seven have been comminuted to life imprisonment and two others been appealed.

“All these verdicts have been pronounced following unfair trials, and therefore do not comply with the guarantees of fair trials. The BCHR has documented many cases in which those sentenced to death have been subjected to torture,” the statement read.

The BCHR then called on the Manama regime to reverse all death sentences and sign the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which is aiming at the abolition of death penalty.

The center further noted that the Bahraini judiciary has overused death penalty in recent years, particularly with regards to freedom of opinion and expression in addition to the exercise of political rights.

Moreover, Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei of the London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy said in a statement that it condemns the death sentences given to four dissidents on terrorism-related charges, and calls for their abolition.

“There is no justice in these rulings. Bahraini courts are now making use of confessions extracted under torture in order to sentence people to death. The revocation of citizenship has become commonplace in Bahrain, which is a flagrant violation of international law,” Alwadaei pointed out.

He went on to say that death penalty remains an integral part of the Bahraini judicial system, stressing that 18 Bahraini citizens are now on death row and all of have been sentenced in political cases.

According to Press TV, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the country in mid-February 2011.

They are demanding that the Al Khalifah regime relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established.

Manama has gone to great lengths to clamp down on any sign of dissent. On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to assist Bahrain in its crackdown.

Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or got arrested as a result of the Al Khalifah regime’s crackdown.

On March 5, 2017, Bahrain’s parliament approved the trial of civilians at military tribunals in a measure blasted by human rights campaigners as being tantamount to imposition of an undeclared martial law countrywide.

Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah ratified the constitutional amendment on April 3 last year.

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