Bahrain Mirror: The High Appeal Court upheld a first degree ruling in favor of a 15-year imprisonment against a defendant accused of planting a bombs and setting them off near a police station.

The Fifth High Criminal Court had ruled a 15-year imprisonment sentence against a defendant (20 years old), and a 7-year imprisonment sentence against his friend (18 years old), under charges of planting a bomb under a police vehicle, near the Budaiya police station. The charges also claimed that the defendants exploded the bomb from a distance. The court imposed a fee of 809 Dinars to be paid for the vehicle damages.

The Public Prosecution had accused the first defendant saying that in 2014, in the northern province, he and other unknown individuals, purchased and created the bombs stated in the papers. It claimed that the reason behind it is to conduct a terrorist act, adding that the bombs were used in a way that put the lives of people in danger, and led to the damaging of the police vehicle. The Prosecution also charged the defendant of training to use bombs in order to conduct terrorist acts.

Rights organizations appeal the said accusations which both defendants were charged with, as they doubt the independence of the Bahraini Judiciary, whose members are appointed by means of royal decrees. Rights activists also believe that all verdicts are issued based on torture-triggered confessions, and evidence presented based on secret investigations and unknown witnesses.

Arabic Version