Bahrain’s highest military appellate court has upheld death sentences against seven anti-regime activists as the ruling Al Khalifah regime presses ahead with its heavy clampdown on political dissidents and pro-democracy activists in the kingdom.
On Wednesday, Bahrain's Military Court of Cassation found Adel Mubarak Muhanna, Fadel Sayyed Abbas Hassan Radhi, Sayyed Alawi Hussein Alawi Hussain, Mohamed Abdulhassen Ahmed al-Matghawi, Mohammed Abdul Hussain Saleh al-Shihabi, Mohammed Abdul Wahid Mohammed Al-Najjar and Hussein Mohammed Ahmed Shihab guilty of attempts to assassinate Commander-in-Chief of Defense Force Field Marshal Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Khalifah, Arabic-language Bahrain Mirror news website reported.
Meanwhile, the Bahrain Opposition Bloc in London (BOBL) has strongly condemned the rulings by Bahrain’s top military court, stating that the verdicts against a group of civilians expose absence of an independent judiciary in the Persian Gulf kingdom.
“These verdicts clearly show the lack of an independent judiciary in Bahrain as the court relied on confessions extracted under torture and threats,” the group said in a statement.
It added that Bahraini monarch King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah was “responsible for the announcement of these unfair verdicts.”
The BOBL then called on the international community to intervene and halt their implementation.
Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the country in mid-February 2011.
They are demanding that the Al Khalifah dynasty relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established.
Manama has gone to great lengths to clamp down on any sign of dissent. On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to assist Bahrain in its crackdown.
Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or got arrested as a result of the Al Khalifah regime’s crackdown.
On March 5, 2017, Bahrain’s parliament approved the trial of civilians at military tribunals in a measure blasted by human rights campaigners as being tantamount to imposition of an undeclared martial law countrywide.
The Bahraini king ratified the constitutional amendment on April 3 last year.