Bahrain Mirror: The Supreme Court of Appeals presided over by judge Mohammad bin Ali Al Khalifa and Naji Abdullah as secretariat upheld a first-instance court sentencing an appellant to life term sentence over a case that contains 3 suspects (2 fugitives) over blasting an explosive targeting policemen.

The fifth minor court had sentenced the 3 suspects to life term sentences and bound two suspects to pay 220 BD for the damages and ordered the confiscation of seized items.

The public prosecution accused the three suspects of using (on June 15, 2015) the explosives mentioned in the papers aiming at endangering people's lives and money, planting two explosives in Al-Ekr to target security men. The three suspects headed to the place to plant the bomb, however, it exploded and killed one the suspects.

The Ministry of Interior announced on July 15, 2015 that a blast occurred in East Ekr, killing 18-year old Qassim Mohsen Ali Abdullah. It added that the suspect was trying to commit a terrorist crime through planting bomb in the region aiming at killing others.

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