SALAM: Sentencing of Al-Wefaq’s GS is absolutely political and it is right of Bahraini people to self-determination

SALAM: Sentencing of Al-Wefaq’s GS is absolutely political and it is right of Bahraini people to self-determination
SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights followed up and examined the court proceedings against Sheikh Ali Salman prior to his sentencing, and as described by his defence counsel, the case against him lacked any legal basis, evidence, and rights afforded to him as a defendant – culminating in a politically-motivated sentence of four years.
SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights is shocked by the Bahraini authorities’ unwillingness to hear the demands of the international community, which at its forefront is the calls from the High Commissioner for Human Rights – who made it unambiguously clear that Sheikh Ali Salman, all the prominent opposition leaders, human rights defenders, and citizens imprisoned for their opinion be immediately and unconditionally released. The High Commissioner, in the 29th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on 15 June 2015, remarked specifically on this issue, one day before the judgment against Sheikh Ali Salman.
SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights confirms the dangers that are posed against human rights in Bahrain, and places the onus on the international community to take the necessary and suitable steps to back the rights of the Bahraini people. There are currently over 3000 Bahraini political prisoners, and it is high time for the international community to form an independent international commission to investigate all violations committed by the regime, and to work to find means to allow the Bahraini people to obtain all their rights. These rights should include the right to self-determination and to build a country with a working rule of law through a genuine democratic system, as stipulated in the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant.