Bahrain Mirror: Bahrain's Fourth High Criminal Court, presided over by judge Ali Al-Dhahrani with the membership of judges Hamad bin Salman Al Khalifa and Jamal Awad and Ahmad Al-Sulaiman as secretariat, sentenced two suspects on Thursday (November 26, 2015) to 10 years in prison over planting a hoax bomb on Muharraq old bridge and ordered the confiscation of seized items.

The authorities said that the investigations led them to the accused, claiming that the first suspect confessed that he agreed with the second to make a hoax bomb in his home, and after evening prayers, they headed to the Muharraq old bridge, planted the hoax bomb and fled.

The Public Prosecution accused the defendants, along with other unknown suspects, of planting a hoax bomb on the main road for a terrorist aim on April 28, 2015. It also accused them, along with others, of manufacturing a homemade object that resembles a bomb.

Human rights organizations challenge the charges raised against the suspects since they doubt the independence of the judiciary, whose members are assigned by royal decrees, and since it issues sentences based on confessions extracted under duress and evidence presented by secret investigations and anonymous witnesses.

Arabic Issue