Bahrain Mirror: The First High Criminal Court, presided over by Judge Hamad bin Salman Al Khalifa, with the membership of two judges, Dia' Huraidi and Jamal Awad, and the Secretariat of Abdullah Mohammed Hassan, sentenced 2 defendants to 5 years in prison over beating another man, claiming that he works as an informant.

The court convicted the two suspects because on May 27, 2015, they, along with other unknowns, arrested the victim and prevented him from his freedom in an illegal way. The suspects used force with the victim for revenge. They also assaulted the victim and caused him injuries that did not hinder him from performing his personal works for more than 20 days.

The authorities claim that the first suspect lured the victim by calling him and pretending that he wants to sleep at his house, so that the other suspect can catch him, arrest him in one of the farms and beat him with the help of other unknowns.

Investigations showed that the first suspect is the one that lured the victim and assaulted him and that the second suspect and other unknowns took part in the incident.

The first suspect confessed in the investigations that he attracted the victim and held him in a farm and that the second suspect, along with others, bet him using wooden sticks and rubber cords.

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