(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Bahraini courts have continued their issuing of harsh and politically motivated sentences, against citizens as a punishment for their political stances. Three citizens have been sentenced to between 5 and 15 years imprisonment for charges of attempted murder of a policeman.Al Wefaq described these verdicts as “oppressive” and an indication of the clear “political persecution” used against activists, who face false and trumped up charges, as repeated in many instances.Al Wefaq accused the regime of setting up politically motivated trials, in a clear manipulation of the law, to punish citizens with harsh sentences for their political opinions. These measures reveal the true face of the police state that has been dominating Bahrain since the state of emergency was declared in March 2011.Furthermore, Al Wefaq believes all of these charges are void, since they are based on the motive of retaliation and use evidence based on confessions made under duress. Detainees are still being tortured, despite that at least 4 have died under such circumstances in the past 2 years.Whilst activists are locked away for up to 15 years, the same courts issue light sentences and acquittals of policemen involved in the deaths of citizens, revealing the regimes disvalue of the life of its people.Last week, the courts acquitted two policemen accused of killing the martyr Fadhel Al-Matrook, who was deliberately shot dead at close range on the second day of the uprising, 15th February 2011. At the same time, the killer of the martyr Hani Abdul-Aziz (also deliberately killed after being pursued and shot dead at a close range) had his sentence reduced from 7 years to 6 months.Al Wefaq noted that the Public Prosecution, which has ruled over the cases of the killers, has failed to progress on the vast majority of the cases relating to the more than 100 killed.Al Wefaq concluded that these trials are being used to punish the opposition, as mentioned in the BICI report, and are a clear example of the political persecution, first outlined by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Such trials form a “travesty of justice”, as described by Amnesty International, and finally as Human Rights Watch has stated, there is “no justice in Bahrain”./129
source : al Wefaq
Wednesday
5 June 2013
7:30:00 PM
426810
Bahraini courts have continued their issuing of harsh and politically motivated sentences, against citizens as a punishment for their political stances. Three citizens have been sentenced to between 5 and 15 years imprisonment for charges of attempted murder of a policeman.