1 Aquittal, 8 Sentences Halved & 4 Sentences Upheld
Bahrain Centre for Human Rights
Ref: 14040606
The High Criminal Appeals Court, headed by Judge Shaikh Mohammed bin Ali Al Khalifa and assisted by associate judges Ahmed Yahya and Ahmed Yousuf, delivered on the 11th of April 2006, the verdict of the 13 men sentenced in relations to the “Airport Incident”. According to the Bahraini Gulf Daily News, Yasser Khalifa, 31 years, from Ras Roman, was acquitted because their was no proof that he was involved.
1 Aquittal, 8 Sentences Halved & 4 Sentences Upheld
Bahrain Centre for Human Rights
Ref: 14040606
The High Criminal Appeals Court, headed by Judge Shaikh Mohammed bin Ali Al Khalifa and assisted by associate judges Ahmed Yahya and Ahmed Yousuf, delivered on the 11th of April 2006, the verdict of the 13 men sentenced in relations to the “Airport Incident”. According to the Bahraini Gulf Daily News, Yasser Khalifa, 31 years, from Ras Roman, was acquitted because their was no proof that he was involved.
Another eight defendants, previously sentenced to 2 years in jail for “illegal gathering of more than 5 people”, had their sentences reduced to one year. They are Nader Ebrahim Abduleman 32, Hassan Abdulnabi 25, Bader Ahmed Al Jazeri 40, Jawad Abdulla Al Salman 24, Qassim Mohammed Khaleel 19, Mohsin Abdulla Al Salman 23, Hassan Ali Haddad 25 and Mohammed Hassan Ashor 21.
The remaining 4 defendants, Ali Mehdi Ahmed, 24, Fakhri Abdulla Rashid, 40, Nasser Ali Nasser, 33 and Abdulameer Ahmed Madan, 23, had their original one-year sentence upheld.
The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights would like to voice its concern on the harsh sentences passed. The Centre was hoping that the Bahraini Authorities would attempt to correct the great injustice of the previous sentences passed, for such sentences are unacceptable internationally for such questionable charges of “illegal gathering”. Moreover, considering that the charges of “sabotage” were dropped in the original sentence due to lack of any evidence, the Centre finds a one year sentence for a charge of illegal gathering of more than 5 individuals is both unjustified and wholly uncalled for.
In consideration of the latter, the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights calls for:
- The immediate release of all prisoners sentenced in relations to the “Airport Incident” in addition to the release of the detainees arrested in related incidents such as the “Daih and Sanabis detainees”, and the “Dana Detainees”.
- A suitable compensation to be arranged for all detainees for the physical, mental and social hardship that they have had to endure, in addition to compensating them for their unjustified detention for the past 4 months.
- An immediate review of those laws which do not even comply to the lowest standards of internationally acceptable laws and regulation, and which the Bahraini Authorities continuously uses to prosecute and restrict the activities of Human Rights defenders and political activists.