Bahrain Mirror: The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) strongly condemned what they called "an unprecedented wave of death sentences in Bahrain".

In a joint statement, FIDH and BCHR said that Bahrain has witnessed a dramatic increase in the use of capital punishment since 2017, and recent executions mark a dangerous return to the death penalty after a halt on executions since 2010.

They stressed that the new death against Moosa Abdulla confirmed the dramatic acceleration of death sentences in Bahrain.

"Moosa Abdulla was sentenced to death. Already earlier this week Ali Al Arab, Ahmed Al Malaly and Maher Al Khabaz had been subjected to death penalty. 22 Bahrainis remain currently on death row, which marks a record in the history of Bahrain," they stated.

The organizations further stated "On 25 December 2017, a Bahraini military court sentenced six men to death on charges of forming a terrorist cell and plotting to assassinate a military official. The victims in this trial were subjected to torture, sleep deprivation, electric shocks, solitary confinement and enforced disappearance."

They added "Communications engineer Sayed Alawi Hussein Alawi, and Sayed Fadhel Abbas were forcibly disappeared for nearly a year, and Mohammed Al-Shehabi and Mohammed Al-Motaghawi were forcibly disappeared for several months. Some of the lawyers and families of the defendants were threatened with reprisals if they revealed their treatment to the media or international human rights organizations.

"We strongly oppose the death penalty in all circumstances and for all crimes", expressed Florence Bellivier, FIDH Deputy Secretary General on Death Penalty. "The increased application of the death penalty in Bahrain is of high concern, as it also reveals a discriminatory and inhuman practice, in addition to the violation of the rights to a fair trial and the instrumentalization of death penalty as a political tool".

For his part, Sheikh Maytham Al-Salman said "The prosecution of peaceful dissidents in military courts is expected to flourish if the international community remains silent".

FIDH and BCHR condemned the last wave of death sentences and executions in the strongest terms, urging the government of Bahrain to immediately abolish the death penalty and accede to the Second Optional Protocol to the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights for the abolition of the death penalty.

The statement also called on the government of Bahrain to open an independent investigation into all complaints of violations in all the cases, particularly those related to complaints of torture and ill-treatment, and adopt the Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary adopted by the United Nations in 1985.

Arabic Version