Bahrain Mirror: The Bahrain Forum for Human Rights (BFHR) said that the arbitrary sentences issued after the trial of 171 Bahraini citizens, who were being tried for participating in the peaceful sit-in in front of the house of Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim, were based on false investigations, confessions extracted under torture and false arrest proceedings.

The BFHR further said that the total arbitrary sentences amounted to 680 years of imprisonment for 171 citizens, who are from 32 regions; 52 citizens were arbitrarily sentenced to ten years in prison; 101 citizens were arbitrarily sentenced to one year in prison; 9 citizens were arbitrarily sentenced to three years in prison; 4 citizens were sentenced to six months in prison and four others were acquitted; the total fines amounted to BD 1500.

"The incidents of arresting all the defendants were not found in the documents of the lawsuit; the documents of the case did not include any evidence of the existence of the arrest procedures of the accused," the BFHR said, adding that "all the prosecution witnesses said they did not arrest any of the accused in the case." "In addition, the investigation record was completed a day after arresting the accused in the case, which confirms the invalidity of the arrest procedures, and thus, all evidence based on them must be invalidated," the BFHR added.

"Through the examination of the case file, it is clear that the investigations are invalid and unserious, as these investigations were not conducted except after interrogating all defendants, whose statements were taken and put in a document named investigation record; hence, the person who prepared these investigations did not make any inquiries, if he had done so, he would have submitted them before the arrest and the investigation took place," the BFHR explained. "In addition, not disclosing the statements made by secret sources to the investigation officer is a clear violation of the Code of Criminal Procedure, because that contradicts the work of the Public Prosecution authority in supervising the work of law enforcement officers."

"The statements of the defendants in the case were extracted under coercion and torture. The victims were threatened not to change their statements when they were brought before the Public Prosecution after they had been in the detention center for long periods, which invalidates the statements taken before the security department and before the public prosecution," the BFHR noted.

Arabic Version