The Black Monday in Bahrain … Twelve citizens have been sentenced to death with final judgments

The legal advisor of Salam for Democracy and Human Rights(SALAM DHR) stated that the trial of Muhammad Ramadan and Hussein Ali Moosa was not held in accordance with legal standards, the evidence was not realistic and the ruling wasbased on confessions extracted under torture, as established in the report of the Special Investigation Unit (an official body).

The Bahraini Court of Cassation reissued death sentences onMonday, 13 July 2020, against Muhammad Ramadan Issa Ali Hassan and Hussein Ali Moosa Hassan Muhammad on the accusation of murdering policeman Abdul Wahid Syed Muhammad Faqir on February 14, 2014. These sentences had been previously overturned in a Bahraini court of law.

SALAM DHR considers this ruling wholly and unequivocally unjust. It has been issued by a judiciary that has no independence whatsoever. These sentences constitute yet another example of the current legal system’s disregard for human life. Ten citizens were previously sentenced to death, and after these two rulings, the list has reached twelve, all of them awaiting execution with little hope for justice or mercy from the Bahraini legal system.

SALAM DHR has previously commented on the retrial of Ramadan and Moosa, that it came at the request of the Public Prosecution, which received a report from the Special Investigation Unit confirming that two men were tortured during interrogation. This means that their confessions are invalid and inadmissible. However, the judiciary continues to tolerate the practise of torture and has upheld these death sentences, despite the confessions of the accused being illegal.

SALAM DHR calls on the international community, including the United States and the United Kingdom, who are Bahrain’s close allies, to immediately pressure the Kingdom to abandon these sentences and to compel the King to promptly re-instate amoratorium on the death penalty.