Bahrain Mirror: Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned on Monday (October 30, 2017) the sentence against three relatives of Bahraini activist, and described it as "collective punishment".

"Today's guilty verdict on dubious charges against three relatives of a human rights defender are testimony to Bahrain's comprehensive campaign to muzzle dissent," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Targeting family members to silence activists amounts to collective punishment, and Bahrain's judiciary should correct this injustice upon appeal."

A criminal court in Manama sentenced Hajar Mansour, mother-in-law of director of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy Sayed Ahmad Al-Wadaie, her son and nephew Mahmoud Mazrooq Manoor to three years in prison over charges related to planting fake bomb on one of the streets.

Human Rights Watch said that all three defendants alleged ill treatment during interrogations. Hajar and Sayed Nazar told a family member they were subjected to prolonged painful forced standing positions, Sayed Nazar and Mansoor told family members that they were subjected to frequent beatings.

Mansour and Hajar denied any connection to charges against them, stating that they had been coerced into signing the confessions without being able to read them. The prosecution presented no evidence connecting the three to these alleged incidents.

The prosecutor's investigation record states that police used "confidential sources" to prove the culpability of the three defendants without indicating the affiliations of those sources or reasons for considering them credible. Sayed Ahmed said that defense lawyers received no response when they questioned the officer who testified about his confidential sources.

Arabic Version