Torture in Bahrain

Seminar Invitation: Bahrain: deterioration of human rights and public freedoms

Lord Avebury, the Vice-Chairman of the Parliamentary Human Rights Group and Baroness Falkner of Margravine
Cordially invite you to a seminar on

Bahrain: deterioration of human rights and public freedoms

Human rights situation is rapidly deteriorating with arbitrary detentions, allegations of torture, crackdown on activists and curtailment of public freedoms. Speakers include international lawyers who have recently witnessed the attacks on protesters

11.00 am Thursday 5th August 2010

1 Abbey Gardens (Annexe to the House of Lords), London SW1P 3SE

Bahrain: Life Sentences against 7 activists in the “Ma'ameer” Case after an Unjust Trial

The Use of Excessive Force against the Defendants and their Families in the Courtroom and its Surroundings

The Sentence is Based on the Anti-Terrorism Law that has been Internationally Condemned

The Court Bases its Sentence on Confessions taken under Torture and Testimonies of Security Officers which do not prove the Charges

The Defendant Kumail Hussein and the signs of torture on his face and hands

11 July 2010

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights expresses its deep concern for the recent developments in what is known as the Ma'ameer case and the violent incidents which accompanied the verdict.
Contrary to the expectations, the High Criminal Court issued a ruling on Monday 5 July 2010 which convicts seven individuals from the village of Ma'ameer, and sentenced them to life imprisonment on the charge of causing the killing of Sheikh Mohammed Riyad, a Pakistani national 58 years old on 7 March 2009, and who died two weeks after his car was burnt during security confrontations in the village of Ma'ameer. This trial strikes a lot of doubt in its integrity and independency,

IHRC: Bahrain – 7 of 10 Ma’ameer detainees found guilty and sentenced to life

5 July 2010 (0830 GMT)

BREAKING NEWS / PRESS RELEASE: Bahrain – 7 of 10 Ma’ameer detainees found guilty and sentenced to life;
IHRC Trial Observer witnesses excessive use of police force against convicted men, their relatives and supporters inside and outside court;
Tear gas and rubber bullets used to disperse demonstrators outside court room

Bahrain arson verdict only stokes the fires

Tyres burn at an intersection in Tubli village on the outskirts of the capital Manama on Monday night. Mazen Mahdi for The National

Mazen Mahdi
July 08. 2010 12:55AM UAE

MANAMA // The sentencing of seven youths to 25 years in prison for their roles in a riot-related arson that left a Pakistani immigrant worker dead could be more than Bahrain’s fragile security situation can handle, politicians and rights activists warn.

Sentences unjust says rights group

A BAHRAINI rights group yesterday said it was still stunned by life sentences handed down to seven Molotov cocktail killers on Monday.

Three of their co-defendants, including one who is still on the run, were cleared by the High Criminal Court.

But the government-registered Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS) claimed the verdict was political and questioned how all seven men could be equally responsible for the death of Shaikh Mohammed Riaz in March last year.

Molotov killers are jailed for life

By NOOR TOORANI , Posted on » Tuesday, July 06, 2010

SEVEN Bahrainis were yesterday jailed for life amid chaotic scenes for killing a Pakistani, who died following a Molotov cocktail attack on his car.

They were convicted by the High Criminal Court of attacking Shaikh Mohammed Riaz in March last year and will each serve 25 years.

Some of the defendants reacted violently to the verdict, while their relatives clashed with police inside the court, which had been kept under lockdown ahead of the hearing.

Seven men sentenced to life, three acquitted in Molotov murder case

By Habib Toumi, Bahrain Bureau Chief
Published: 15:27 July 5, 2010

Manama: The High Criminal Court on Monday sentenced seven Bahraini men to life in prison and acquitted three in the murder case of a Pakistani man last year.

The 10 defendants were initially charged with causing the death of Shaikh Mohammad Riadh in March 2009 after they planned an attack on a police patrol in Maameer, a village south of the capital of Manama, where protesters were clashing with anti-riot police.

Amnesty International Report 2010 - Bahrain

BAHRAIN

KINGDOM OF BAHRAIN
Head of state: King Hamad bin ‘Issa Al Khalifa
Head of government: Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa
Death penalty: retentionist
Population: 0.8 million
Life expectancy: 75.6 years
Under-5 mortality (m/f): 13/13 per 1,000
Adult literacy: 88.8 per cent

The government took steps to promote human rights and to improve conditions for some migrant workers. However, it continued to penalize criticism of the royal family and failed to investigate allegations of torture in 2008. One person remained at risk of execution.

Re-criminating the Innocents of Karzakan to Acquit the Criminals of the Security Apparatuses

13 May 2010

In a political sentence issued by the Supreme Appeal Court on 28 March 2010[i][1] to convict 19 defendants of killing a policeman from the Special Forces, the Pakistani Majid Asghar Ali, and imprisoning them all for 3 years, after annulling the acquittal issued in their favour on 13 October 2009.