Bahrain Mirror: The High Appeals Court commuted a sentence issued against 2 appellants who were convicted among 26 defendants of attacking police patrol, putting it to fire by using Molotov in a riot and assembly cases and acquiring Molotov, explosives and arms. The court commuted the 5-year jail term issued against them by the first instance court to 3 years. Meanwhile, it upheld the 3-year jail term against the 3rd appellant.

The first-instance court had sentenced the suspects from the 5th till the 25th to 7 years in prison and sentenced the 6th and 11th suspects to 10 years in prison. It also issued 5-year jail term against the suspects from the 7th till the 17th as well as the 26th. The court bound all the suspects to pay 2660 BD and 450 fils for the damages and ordered the confiscation of seized items.

Human rights organizations challenge the charges raised against political detainees, 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