Bahrain Mirror: Bahrain's Fourth High Criminal Court, presided over by judge Ibrahim Al-Zayed with the memberships of judges Osama Al-Shadhili and Wael Ebrahim and Ahmad Al-Sulaiman as secretariat, convicted 10 defendants of detonating a bomb in Al-Ekr area, manufacturing, acquiring and using explosives, manufacturing and acquiring arms and ammunition and resisting police arrest, sentencing two to 30 years in prison, two others to life imprisonment, four others to 15 years and another two to 3 years.

The head of the Terrorist Crimes Prosecution, Attorney-General Ahmad Al-Hammadi, claims that the suspects "detonated a bomb in the eastern Ekr area on April 7, 2016. They preplanned the incident and thus manufactured and planted a bomb in that area, and then waited for the arrival of security forces. After the security forces approached the site where the bomb was planted, they remotely detonated the bomb, attempting to kill the policemen, cause as much damage possible, terrorize citizens and residents and endanger their lives. Upon orders the policemen pursued the suspects who fled the scene and when the officers caught up with them, they resisted arrest [...]."

Human rights organizations challenge the charges raised against the defendants, since they doubt the independence of the judiciary, whose members are assigned by royal decrees, and since it issues sentences based on confessions extracted under duress and evidence presented by secret investigations and anonymous witnesses.

Arabic Version