Bahrain Mirror: The Supreme Appeals Court, presided over by Judge Mohammad bin Ali Al Khalifa, and with the secretariat headed by Abdullah Mohammad Hassan, upheld a life prison sentence against detainee Rida Ghesra, charged with weapon possession, and using them against the police.

The Appeals court had sentenced 3 Bahrainis to life imprisonment, among them Rida Ghesra, for possessing Kalashnikovs and other fire arms, to use in targeting police officers. The police claims that they found the weapons hidden in the house of the first defendant. The court convicted the defendants (aged 31, 41, and 27), stating that from 2012 to 2013, and in May 6, 2015, they attained weapons that were unlicensed by the Interior Ministry. It indicated that the defendant's aim was using the weapons in ways that destabilize security and public order.

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