Updates: Harsh sentences to 21 prominent oppositional leaders and Human Rights defenders

Updates: Harsh sentences to 21 prominent oppositional leaders and Human Rights defenders

Update – 22 June 2011

Today the martial court issues verdicts against 21 rights activists and political opposition leaders after months of detention.

Eight Bahraini rights activists have been given life sentences by a military court, which found them guilty of plotting a coup against the government during two months of unrest that rattled the country earlier this year.

Another 13 political and rights activists were given sentences of between two to 15 years, as the government attempts to crush dissent that has erupted in the tiny kingdom in February following popular uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world.

The verdicts were immediately condemned by rights groups who said all those found guilty had been campaigning to end discrimination at the hands of the Sunni dynasty. Almost all activists who took to the streets of Manama in February and March were Shia Muslims, who make up 70% of Bahrain’s population, but feel largely disenfranchised.

Rights groups have urged Bahrain to halt the special military court proceedings, with Human Rights Watch deeming them a violation of international law.

“Most defendants hauled before Bahrain’s special military court are facing blatantly political charges, and trials are unfair,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

In a meeting earlier this month with U.S. President Barack Obama last week, Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa pledged he is seeking national dialogue with the protesters. Bahrain’s crackdown contradicts statements the prince made, Human Rights Watch said.

Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab also said he disapproved of the trials.

“This court does not meet international standards for human rights and for fair trials. The people were sentenced for expressing their opinion and for opposing the government,” Rajab said. “This goes against the government saying it wants a dialogue.”

Bahrain’s ruling dynasty had instead claimed that the men were part of a “sedition ring”, backed by Iran and Hezbollah, who were trying to topple the regime.Among those given life sentences were leading members of opposition political groups. Leading rights activist Adbul Hadi al-Khawaja, whose daughters Zainab and Maryam are prominent members of the Bahrainhuman rights movement, was one of those condemned to life in prison. Zainab was reportedly removed from the courtroom after protesting against the sentence

Among those who received lesser sentences was Ibrahim Sharif, a secular leftist Sunni, who was accused by a state-run newspaper of having links to “a foreign country” – a veiled reference to Iran.

The Guardian spoke to Sharif at the former focal point of the rights demonstrations in Manama in February where he said he was the only prominent member of the Sunni community to be campaigning more openly for equal rights for the kingdom’s majority Shia base.

“Things have to change here, or else the country will suffer and the kingdom could be imperilled,” he said at the time, standing in Pearl roundabout, a landmark in the central city that was later demolished under government orders.

As verdicts were read in a military court this morning, members of the public gallery chanted “solidarity, solidarity, we shall overthrow the regime”. Bahraini security officers were congratulating each other inside the courthouse, according to bystanders present.

The trials were held despite the government pronouncing the end of three months of martial law earlier this month, which had given the exclusively Sunni security forces extra powers of detention and arrest.

Activists called for protesters to again take to the streets in Manama on Wednesday in defiance of the verdicts and the government, which has vowed to continue a crackdown on dissent. Up to 30 doctors and nurses from key city hospitals were last week also put on trial accused of subversion and if using government facilities for political purposes.

Details of the verdicts

In custody:

1- Abdulwahab Hussain Ali ( life sentence imprisonment) – arrested 16 Mar 2011
2- Hassan Ali Mushaima.( life sentence imprisonment) – arrested 16 Mar 2011
3- Mohammed Habib Al Safaf. ( Al Miqdad) ( life sentence imprisonment) – arrested 16 Mar 2011 [and was in prisone between Aug 2010- 28 Feb 2011]
4- Ebrahim Sharif Abdulraheem Mossa ( 5 Years imprisonment) – arrested 16 Mar 2011
5- Abduljalil Mansoor Makk. (Al Miqdad) ( life sentence imprisonment) arrested 27 Mar 2011
6- Abduljalil Abdullah Al Singace.( life sentence imprisonment) – arrested 16 Mar 2011 [and was in prisone between Aug 2010- 28 Feb 2011]
7- Saeed Mirza Ahmed. (AlNouri) ( life sentence imprisonment) – arrested 16 Mar 2011 [and was in prisone between Aug 2010- 28 Feb 2011]
8- Abdul Hadi Abdullah Mahdi Hassan (AlMukhodher) ( 15 years imprisonment) – arrested 16 Mar 2011 [and was in prisone between 13 Aug 2010- 28 Feb 2011]
9- Abdullah Isa Al Mahroos.( 15 years imprisonment) – arrested 16 Mar 2011 [and was in prisone between Aug 2010-28 Feb 2011]
10- Abdulhadi Al Khawaja ( life sentence imprisonment) – arrested 9 April 2011
11-Salah Hubail Al Khawaj.( 5 years imprisonment) – arrested 21 Mar 2011
12- Mohammed Hassan Jawad.( 15 years imprisonment) – arrested Mar 2011 [was arrested for few weeks last year]
13- Mohammed Ali Ismael. ( 15 years imprisonment) – arrested Mar 2011
14- Al Hurr Yousif Mohammed.( 2 Years imprisonment) – arrested Mar 2011 [and was in prisone between Aug 2010- 28 Feb 2011] …more