Bahrain Mirror: The Fifth High Criminal Court in Bahrain, presided over by Judge Ibrahim Al-Zayed, sentenced on Thursday (September 22, 2016), three defendants to life in prison and fined two defendants 220 in compensation for damages in a case involving 3 suspects (two fugitives) over charges of detonating bomb to "target police," which caused the death of one of the defendants.

The Public Prosecution accused the three suspects of using explosions threatening people's lives as well as public and private properties on June 15, 2015 at the security directorate of the capital governorate. The prosecution further claimed the the defendants attempted to plant two bombs in the East Ekr area to target security forces, and when one of them was planting the bomb, it exploded leaving him killed.

The Interior Ministry announced on July 15, 2015 the incident and said that a person was killed in an explosion while attempting plant the bomb in the East Ekr area for the purpose of targeting the police, adding that the deceased person is called Qassem Mohsen Ali Abdullah (18 years old) who was attempting to commit a terrorist crime by planting explosives for the purpose of killing and threatening people's lives.

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