Bahrain Mirror: Bahrain's Fifth High Criminal Court, presided over by judge Abdullah Al-Ashraf with the memberships of judges Mohsen Mabrouk and Motaz Abu Al-Ezz and Abdullah Mohammad as secretariat, sentenced 6 defendants to 7 years in prison after convicting them of attempted murder of a policeman near the Sitra police station, by attacking an armored vehicle with a large number of Molotov cocktails.

The authorities claim that the security forces were surprised to see about 150 masked citizens staging a protest and hurling Molotov cocktails at the security forces. One of the Molotov cocktails reached the vehicle through the opening. The first suspect also planted hoax explosives on the public street.

According to the authorities, this led to multiple injuries in the policeman's head and neck area.

The court accused the defendants of deliberately attempting to murder a policeman, with the help of other unknown suspects, for "performing his duty" on November 29, 2014. The suspects prepared Molotov cocktails and attacked the armored vehicle, aiming at killing the policeman for a terrorist purpose. The court also accused them of taking part in an assembly of more than 5 people, aiming at disturbing public peace and using violence to achieve their purpose, as well as acquiring Molotov cocktails aiming at endangering people's lives and properties.

Human rights organizations challenge the charges raised against the defendants, 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