The right to life is an inherent right of all human beings, and governments do not have the right to extract this right from their people. Given the deteriorating political and human rights reality in Bahrain, we see that the government is still pursuing a policy of revenge against opponents who violate its policy by sentencing them to death in order to suppress their voices.
This is used as to give a lesson for others, so that they do not think of taking opposing views.
Since the beginning of the popular movement in 2011, 36 individuals were sentenced to death due to the deteriorating political and human rights situation in the country. Until the moment, 12 people were sentenced to death, awaiting approval by the King of Bahrain on their execution, and 10 are waiting for justice to be done.
According to the testimonies that the Bahrain Center for Human Rights received from the families of most of those sentenced to death, they were subjected to torture and degrading treatment in order to force them to confess to the charges against them. The court ignored in all cases the torture complaints filed by the detainees, which raises doubts about the fairness of the sentence issued against them.
In July 2020, the two persons sentenced to death, Muhammad Ramadan and Hussein Musa, lost their last chance to be redressed after the Court of Cassation upheld the death sentence issued against them after they were convicted of killing a policeman in a bombing in 2014.
This was the second time that a similar ruling was issued by the Court of Cassation against Ramadan and Musa, after they were retried following the appearance of a medical report that was not available during the first trial.
On the International Day to End the Death Penalty, which corresponds to October 10, the Bahrain Center for Human Rights renews its demand for the release of detainees sentenced to death as a means of revenge for their opposition political activities or for the retrial in a manner that ensures the availability of judicial procedures consistent with the conditions of fair trials.