Bahrain Mirror: Five human rights organizations called for the most widespread campaign against the verdict issued by the Bahraini Court of Cassation to uphold death penalties against the two citizens, Mohammad Ramadan and Hussein Mousa, whom the authorities brought charges against over political reasons. The authorities accused them of killing a policeman.

The organizations said in a joint statement that the king of Bahrain has to respond to the civil and international appeals urging him to stop using the judiciary as a way to punish dissents. The organizations also called on the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid bin Ra'ad, to interfere and stop this verdict that contradicts with the standards of a fair trial and the International Bill of Human Rights.

"The issuance of this verdict that was based on confessions extracted under torture comes as the Bahraini authorities are still preventing the visit of the UN special rapporteur on torture Juan Mendez to Manama and are not holding the leaders and security officials accountable who were involved in torture cases that lead to deaths of dozens of people, besides the widespread international criticism of the judicial institutions that promote impunity," they added.

The statement concluded that "more than 3,500 Bahrainis have been tortured and maltreated. People involved in torturing these 3,500 were not held accountable; however, they were promoted to higher positions. The Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) report explained that such violations wouldn't have happened without the knowledge of the high-ranked officials."

The signatories are: Bahrain Forum for Human Rights, SALAM For Democracy Human Rights, Khiam Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture, Aman network for the Rehabilitation and Defense of Human Rights and the International Center for .Supporting Rights and Freedoms

Arabic Issue