Bahrain Mirror: The Bahraini High Court of Appeal upheld a first degree verdict sentencing 15 appellants to prison terms between 3 and 7 years over burning a police vehicle.

The high criminal court had convicted 26 defendants of setting fire to a police vehicle, injuring a man with a Molotov cocktail and acquiring arms, sentencing them to terms ranging from 3 to 17 years, also fining them collectively 2,660 BD for damages.

The authorities claim that they received a report stating that a group of persons protesting in the Diraz area near the roundabout set fire to a number of tires and upon the arrival of policemen, the protestors began hurling Molotov cocktails and rocks at the police, leaving one policeman injured and a burnt police vehicle.

The Public Prosecution raised against them charges of joining an assembly of more than 5 persons for the purpose of disrupting public security, using violence to achieve their aim, and having possession of Molotov bombs.

Human rights organizations challenge the charges raised against political detainees, since they doubt the independence of the judiciary, whose members are assigned by royal decrees, and since it issues sentences based on confessions extracted under duress and evidence presented by secret investigations and anonymous witnesses.

Arabic Version