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, convicted 4 Bahrainis. It sentenced the third suspect to 5 years in prison and the 3 others to 3 years over burning tires and joining an assembly in Bahrain's Sitra.

The Bahraini authorities said that the suspects along with others set fire to tires on one of Sitra's main roads. After the police interfered, the suspects fled. The authorities claim that the investigations led them to the suspects.

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