Bahrain Mirror: The Chief of Bahrain's Terrorist Crimes Prosecution, Attorney-General Ahmad Al-Hammadi, stated that the Fourth High Criminal court convicted on Wednesday (June 29, 2016) 8 defendants over charges of spying for Iran, establishing a terrorist group and joining it, training on the use of weapons, importing arms, ammunition and explosives via sea for a terrorist purpose. The court sentenced first six defendants to life-imprisonment and the seventh and eighth suspects to 15 years in prison. The court stripped all the defendants of their citizenships and ordered the confiscation of seized items.  

The prosecution alleges that it relied on hearsay evidence of the attesting witnesses and testimonies of suspects as well as the medical and technical reports and video footage showing the crime.

Human rights organizations challenge the charges raised against political detainees, 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 Version