Bahrain Mirror: The Fifth High Criminal Court, presided over by Judge Ibrahim Al Zayed, with the membership of judges, Mohsen Mabrouk and Moataz Abdul Ezz, and with the Secretariat of Youssef Bu Hardan, issued a life sentence against a Bahraini convicted with planting an explosive device at a location where a Police Patrol was stationed in the town of Karana. The court also ruled a 15-year imprisonment sentence against 4 individuals whom it claimed took part in the crime. Two other convicts under the age of 18, were sentenced to 3 years of prison. The court imposed on the defendants to pay an amount of 1178,550 Dinars, as compensation to the damages suffered by the security patrol.

The court said in the ruling against the third and seventh defendants, that even if their age is over 15, yet they are still under 18 years of age, which complies with the easing circumstances in accordance with Article (70) of the Penal Code.

The authorities claim that the identities of the defendants in the alleged incident, where reached through fingerprints and investigations, and were convicted based on their confessions.

Human rights organizations challenge the charges raised against political detainees, since they doubt the independence of the judiciary, whose members are assigned by royal decrees, and since it issues sentences based on confessions extracted under duress and evidence presented by secret investigations and anonymous witnesses.

Arabic Version