Bahrain: Authorities pass death sentences, nationality revocations and life imprisonment sentences against 10 citizens in unrelenting revenge campaign

In a dangerous development, the highest criminal court in Bahrain issued on 26 February 2015, 3 death sentences against Bahrainis implicated in the explosion in Daih, with one of them additionally stripped of his nationality. They were accused of “killing 3 Police Officers”, among them an Emirati officer, Tariq Al-Shihi.
In the same case, the court sentenced 7 Bahrainis to life imprisonment and nationality revocation. The defendants are as follows:
1. Ahmed Jafar Mohammed Ali: life imprisonment and nationality revoked
2. Ali Abdulshaheed Alsingace: death sentence in absentia and nationality revoked
3. Sami Mirza Mushaima: death sentence
4. Abbas Jameel Taher Mohammed Alsamea: death sentence
5. Ali Jameel Taher Mohammed Alsamea: life imprisonment and nationality revoked
6. Taher Yusuf Ahmed Mohammed Alsamea: life sentence and nationality revoked
7. Hussain Ahmed Rashid Khalil: life sentence and nationality revoked
8. Ridha Mirza Mushaima: life sentence and nationality revoked
9. Hassan Sabah Abdulhassan: life sentence and nationality revoked
10. Ahmed Matooq Ibrahim: life sentence and nationality revoked
Bahrain SALAM for Human Rights, by following the cases and examining reports produced by international organisations, concludes that the judgments are an execution of political vengeance wielded by the Bahraini authorities against opposition leaders, human rights defenders, and political activists that demanded civil and political rights. As such, hundreds have had their nationality revoked and 7 have been sentenced to death since the start of the popular uprising in 2011. Cases are void of evidence and extraction of confessions under torture is common practice.
Bahrain SALAM for Human Rights portrays its deep worry regarding Bahrain’s human rights transgressions, namely the use of the judiciary as a mechanism to suppress, which is an infringement on human rights agreements. The international community’s failure to abide by their obligations has given the Bahraini authorities wider scope to continue human rights violations, which serves to endanger the national security in Bahrain and the region.