Bahrain in the World Day Against the Death Penalty: Three citizens sentenced to death after unfair military trials

10 Oct 2011
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights expresses its concerns that the military court (court of national safety) has issued more death sentences against peaceful demonstrators, bringing the total number to three civilians, whom were sentenced to death after swift trials that lacked the terms of a fair trial, and relied on coerced confessions taken under torture as the only evidence, disregarding completely the criticism of the international and human rights community regarding the military trials that violate the right of civilians in a competent court. On the World Day against the Death Penalty the BCHR appeals to the international bodies and human rights organizations to immediately intervene to save the lives of these defendants, to stop the implementation of these sentences, and to guarantee a fair trial for the accused.

10 Oct 2011
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights expresses its concerns that the military court (court of national safety) has issued more death sentences against peaceful demonstrators, bringing the total number to three civilians, whom were sentenced to death after swift trials that lacked the terms of a fair trial, and relied on coerced confessions taken under torture as the only evidence, disregarding completely the criticism of the international and human rights community regarding the military trials that violate the right of civilians in a competent court. On the World Day against the Death Penalty the BCHR appeals to the international bodies and human rights organizations to immediately intervene to save the lives of these defendants, to stop the implementation of these sentences, and to guarantee a fair trial for the accused.

On the 29th September 2011, the national safety court (which is a special court, headed by a military judge) ruled the death sentence to Ali Yousef Abdulwahab Al-Taweel (22 years old), who was accused in the case of murdering the policeman Ahmed Al-Muraysi in Sitra, by hitting him with a car, and sentenced the other defendant Ali Attya Mahdi to life imprisonment[1]. The court did not show the details of the rulings or the reasons for the variation in the rulings of the defendants, and ignored the obvious breaches for the right of the accused in a fair trial, where three sessions were held in the absence of Ali Al-Taweel’s lawyer, as well as ignoring the torture allegations that forced him to confess, despite his appearance at the court in a state that was difficult for him to stand as a result of being subjected to beatings on sensitive areas of his body.

Prior to this ruling, the same military court has ruled the death penalty on four defendants[2] on the 28th of April, in a court that lasted less than two weeks, before withdrawing from executing two of them and changing the sentence to life imprisonment on the 22nd of May, while confirming the death penalty on the other two defendants AbdulAziz AbdulRedha and Ali Al-Singace, without providing an explanation for this exception.

The national safety court is a military court that is held in the building of the Bahrain Defense Force and headed by a military judge. After the imposition of emergency law in Bahrain last March, the authority began to refer cases of civilians with political charges related to the people’s protests to this court, which issued harsh sentences against them after short trial periods. This court also lacked the requirements of a fair trial, as it has ignored the legal violations that occurred during the arrest and detention, including denying the defendants access to their lawyers and their families, and ignored the allegations of torture despite the fact that the coerced confessions were the only evidence presented by the military prosecutor to convict the defendants, and refused to consider many requests by the attorneys, including the exculpatory evidence that they have provided. It has also held some of its sessions in the absence of lawyers representing the defendants. The establishment and composition of this court includes clear constitutional violations, and the disruption of the provisions of the Constitution and laws, including the absence of the necessary safeguards in the appointment of judges by order of the relevant executing authority, and that they are not liable for dismissal. Presenting civilians for trials at this court, after being interrogated by the military prosecution is another violation, as well as the swiftness of the proceedings in the court that do not allow the defense lawyers to plead and defend the interests of their clients as usual, makes this court lacking a fundamental principal of the fair trial principles[3]. The defendants, whom were tried at this court, have attempted to challenge the constitutionality of the court, however, the National Safety Court refused to raise this appeal to the Constitutional Court.

An extensive media campaign on the state television and in pro-government newspapers accompanied the trial of defendants in order to convict them before receiving the sentences[4]. In addition, the local newspaper Al-Watan which is close to the Royal Bureau claimed that the killer of the policeman Al-Muraysi had received his retribution at the time of the crime[5], in reference to the death of the protester Ahmed Farhan who was shot directly in the head in Sitra on the 15th of March, 2011.

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights has already documented the details of the systematic torture that was applied on those sentenced to death in the first case to force them to confess, which resulted in the death of one of the defendants, Ali Saqar [6]. BCHR has also received information on the continuation of torture, even after sentencing the defendants and transferring them to the central prison at Jaw[7]. The concern increases as more information is published on the number of detainees who were subjected to torture and then were convicted by the military court based only on their confessions, as is the case with the doctors[8].

Despite the succession of exculpatory evidence which might cast doubt on the basis of the indictment, including the medical evidence[9] and the appearance of a new defense witnesses[10], but the court’s insistence on issuing death sentences underlines the fact that these provisions are politicized and subject to political considerations rather than the requirements of a fair trial. While the General Attorney has announced the retrial of doctors after a strong international media and human rights campaign, however he did not issue a similar statement in the cases that received death sentences, despite the fact that the defendants and in particular those of the first case Abdulaziz AbdulRedha and Ali Al-Singace face the risk of losing their lives and have already lost the chance for retrial at civil court and are now waiting for the final decision from the Cassation Court which is expected to be issued in the coming weeks.

A number of activists and political dissidents faced claims of implementing the death penalty in the past few years by the Attorney General in criminal cases with political backgrounds. Bahrain Center for Human Rights believes that these charges and harsh penalties are designed to persuade the people to refrain from political activism in the community or participation in demonstrations or even solidarity with political prisoners to not become targeted by the Authority.

The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights calls upon the international community on the world day against the death penalty to immediately intervene to protect those sentenced to death from losing their lives due to the absence of guarantees of a fair trial, and appeals to them to:

1. Condemn the trying of civilians in military courts, and the application of the death penalty against them, especially in the absence of a fair trial.
2. Demand the Bahraini authorities to terminate the sentences and to unconditionally release all political prisoners.
3. Put an end to the use of all kinds of torture in detention centers.
4. Call the Bahraini authorities to hold accountable anyone responsible in any type of torture carried out in detention centers in Bahrain, whether in the form of command, supervision, or knowing about or for torturing detainees.
5. Requesting the Government of Bahrain to adhere to the Convention against Torture and implementing their commitments to the international obligations that it has signed.

Additional Information:
Execution in Bahrain is carried out by a firing squad. The last implementation of the death sentence was in 2010 against the Bangladeshi Jassim Abdulrahman, which was convicted of murder. While two Pakistani and one Ethiopian national are waiting for the implementation of their death sentence. In December 2006, three Bangladeshis were executed after a period of downtime since 1996, when Ahmed Isa Qambar (29 years old) was convicted in July for the assassination of a senior police officer, Ibrahim Al-Saidi (34 years old) in March 1995. His death sentence was followed by three trials confirming the sentence; the last trail was of the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bahrain on the 17th of March, where Mr. Qamber was executed by firing squad in March 1996.
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