Bahrain military court sentences Shia activists in unfair trial
\n‘Human Rights Defender Abdulhadi al-Khawaja is among those sentenced to life in prison
\n22 June 2011<\/p>\n
A military court in Manama today sentenced a group of 21 prominent Shia activists who have advocated political reform.<\/p>\n
The Bahrain News Agency reported that the opposition activists had been charged with \u201cplotting to topple the government\u201d during recent pro-reform protests. Eight received life sentences and the rest received jail sentences of up to 15 years. Seven people were tried in absentia.<\/p>\n
Amnesty International believes that some of the defendants may be prisoners of conscience, detained solely for peacefully expressing their political beliefs and organizing pro-reform rallies early this year. Some of the defendants were reportedly tortured or ill-treated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese sentences are extremely harsh, and they appear to be politically motivated, since we have not seen any evidence that the activists used or advocated violence,\u201d said Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International\u2019s Middle East and North Africa Programme.<\/p>\n
\u201cCivilians should not have been tried in a military court, and these trials have been patently unfair. In particular, the court failed to adequately investigate allegations that some of the defendants were tortured and made to sign false ‘confessions’ which seem to have been used as evidence against them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those sentenced to life imprisonment include prominent opposition activists such as Hassan Mshaima\u2019, ‘Abdelwahab Hussain, Dr. \u2018Abdel-Jalil al-Singace and ‘Abdulhadi al-Khawaja. <\/p>\n
The activists were given very little access to lawyers, and at least two of them, Ebrahim Sherif and \u2018Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, were reportedly tortured. \u2018Abdulhadi al-Khawaja\u2019s daughter, Zaineb al-Khawaja, attended the trial and was forcibly removed from the court when she shouted \u201cGod is great\u201d after the sentence was read out. She was arrested and held in a police station for a few hours before being released. …more<\/a><\/p>\n