Bahrain Mirror: Bahrain's High Criminal Court presided over by judge Mohammad bin Ali Al Khalifa and Naji Abdullah as secretariat commuted the verdict issued against 17 appellants, reducing the 5-year jail term of 7 appellants to 3 only and the 3-year jail term of 9 others to 2.  The court also amended the sentence issued against the first suspect from 8 to 6 years in prison.

The high criminal court had handed down 5-year jail term to 8 suspects and 3-year jail term to 9 others because they were under 18. The suspects were convicted over acquiring Molotov, assembling and damaging a police patrol through hurling Molotov against it.

The court bound the suspects to pay 602 BD for the damages.

The court sentenced the suspects because the first one acquired ammunitions without a license from the competent party, aiming at using them to disrupt public peace and for a terrorist aim. The court accused all the suspects of deliberately damaging a vehicle owned by the ministry of interior, for a terrorist aim, taking part in an assembly of more than 5 persons, aiming at disrupting public peace, as well as acquiring Molotov.

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