Bahrain Mirror: Nine human rights organizations expressed great concern over upholding death sentences against two young men "who stated that they were exposed to brutal torture to extract a confession of having committed the murder of a policeman in the Al-Dair village near the Bahrain International Airport area."

The Bahraini Court of Cassation had issued on November 16, 2015 its decision to uphold the death sentence against both: Mr. Mohamed Ramadan, and Mr. Hussein Ali Moussa, on the basis of evidence extracted under torture, and from the judicial institution that has been criticized by international human rights organizations for not implementing any radical reforms which will lead to their autonomy and put an end to the impunity policy, as well as the rest of the violations against the terms of a fair trial.

The organizations also highlighted that these sentences came at a time that the authorities haven't yet allowed the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Mr.Juan Méndez, to visit Bahrain, in addition to other UN special rapporteurs, and haven't yet implemented the Bassiouni recommendations, particularly that linked to countering torture, a matter that supports the views of activists and human rights defenders who say that the regime uses the judiciary as a tool to persecute dissidents and make reprisals against them.

"This harsh sentence, issued against two of the prisoners of conscience and five citizens, who are still waiting for the final decision of the Court of Cassation, in addition to all unfair trials held against hundreds of citizens all reflect a fundamental flaw in the judicial system in Bahrain which penalizing those who exercise their right to express their opinion," they said.

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, Bahrain Forum for Human Rights, Salam for Democracy and Human Rights, European Bahraini Organization for Human Rights, Justice Human Rights Organization, Lualua Center for Human Rights, Bahraini Society for Human Rights, and the Bahrain Human Rights Observatory called for dropping the death sentences immediately, releasing all detainees who have been detained because of their opinions or because of the political situation in the country and holding those responsible for ordering or practicing torture accountable.

The signatories also called on international human rights organizations to put pressure on the government of Bahrain in order to immediately cease all violations, become fully committed to the UN Bill of Human Rights, implement the aforementioned demands and begin implementing the recommendations of the independent fact-finding commission (BICI) and the recommendations of the Human Rights Council.

Arabic Issue