Bahrain Mirror: More than three years after the verdict on his appeal, a young man challenged a verdict, sentencing him to 10 years in prison and stripping him of his Bahraini nationality on charges of manufacturing, possessing, training on the use of explosives.

The first High Criminal Court of Appeal ruled that his appeal would not be accepted in form since filed after the legal due date.

The first-instance court had sentenced three defendants to 10 years in prison each, as well as stripping them of their Bahraini citizenships.

The authorities claim that the defendants detonated an explosive device in Ekr on August 14, 2013, and participated in protests, noting that they reached the first defendant via investigations, as he confessed to the charges and named the two other defendants.

Human rights groups questions the charges raised against defendants over doubts about the independence of the Bahraini  judiciary, whose members are appointed by royal decrees and whose verdicts are based on confessions extracted under torture and evidence provided by secret investigations and unknown witnesses.

Arabic Version