Bahrain Mirror: The Third Bahraini Minor Criminal Court acquitted a Bahraini child of the charge of Molotov cocktail possession due to lack of evidence, while sentencing him to one month in jail for his participation in an assembly, ordering a three-year suspension of verdict execution since he is a minor and has a clean record.

The authorities claim that the child was arrested by the security forces after he joined along with unknown others a gathering consisting of forty people near the Diraz Park.

The Prosecution accused the defendant of participating on 23 May 2018, along with unknown others, in a gathering of more than five persons in a public place, with the purpose to commit crimes and disrupt public order, adding that they used violence to achieve the purpose for which they had gathered, and acquired Molotov cocktails for the purpose of endangering the lives of people and public and private properties.

The child confessed in the investigations to the charges. However, human rights organizations say that the authorities in Bahrain extract confessions from defendants under duress and torture.

Arabic Version