Bahrain Mirror: Bahrain's Third High Criminal Court, presided over by the judge Ebrahim Al-Zayed and membership of judges Wajih Al-Shaer and Bader Al-Abdullah and Youssef Bou Hardan as secretariat, handed down 10-year prison term sentences to 3 suspects and ordered the confiscation of the seized items.

The Bahraini Public Prosecution stated that the suspects, on November 22, 2014, deliberately started a fire and participated in an assembly.

The authorities claim that the suspects participated in an assembly with a group of 10 people, aiming at starting a fire in the street. The security forces cracked down on them. The suspects fled into the neighborhood. At that time, according to the authorities, one of the suspects fired 3 or 4 shots at the policemen, whereas the other assemblers burnt tires near the Al-Sanabes cemetery and ran away.

The authorities alleged that the investigations led them to uncover the suspect who has the (claimed) firearm in his possession.

The suspect confessed during his interrogation that he bought a gun from a Saudi man for 350 BD and that he is affiliated to Saraya Al-Ashtar group.

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