Ahlul Bayt News Agency - Amnesty International said in a public statement released on Thursday that Bahraini authorities must respect human rights when investigating Sitra bombing and called to ensure those arrested in connection to a recent bombing are not subjected to acts of torture and other ill-treatment while in custody.
The statement highlighted that “In many cases documented by Amnesty International, individuals arrested in connection to past explosions in Bahrain have often been tortured or otherwise ill-treated during their first days or weeks in the custody and interrogation at the Ministry of Interior’s Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID). Many were then tried unfairly and convicted on the basis of “confessions” under torture. Scores have had their nationality revoked and several have been sentenced to death”.
Many of those detained, for instance, in connection to an explosion in al-Daih village that killed three policemen on 3 March 2014, complained, including in court, that they were tortured during interrogation at the CID. Their lawyers were not able to meet with any of the defendants until the first session of the trial on 30 April 2014 despite repeated requests to do so ahead of the trial.
The statement also cited violations of human rights and fair trial in previous similar cases where the Bahraini courts “refused to grant lawyers full access to the evidence (video recording, pictures and witnesses) referred to in the prosecution documents, depriving them the right to equality of arms and preventing them from mounting an adequate defence or meaningfully cross-examining witnesses.”
Furthermore, it stated, “Amnesty International is concerned that many of those being detained in relation to the Sitra bombing may be denied access to their lawyers and families for at least 28 days, in accordance with 2014 amendments to the anti-terrorism law, though contrary to international human rights standards. This places them at risk of torture and other illtreatment. The anti-terrorism law also empowers the detaining authorities to hold them for up to six months without any means to challenge the legality of their detention before a court of law or an independent body.”
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source : Amnesty
Sunday
2 August 2015
9:31:47 AM
703630
Amnesty International: Bahrain must respect human rights when investigating Sitra bombing and not torture and ill-treatments to
Amnesty International said in a public statement released on Thursday that Bahraini authorities must respect human rights when investigating Sitra bombing and called to ensure those arrested in connection to a recent bombing are not subjected to acts of torture and other ill-treatment while in custody.