DUBAI: A Bahraini appeals court yesterday overturned death and prison sentences issued earlier to protesters for their role in a pro-democracy uprising, a defence lawyer said.
Bahrain has been convulsed by unrest since February 2011 following demonstrations led by majority Shias demanding democratic change in the Sunni-led monarchy.
The ruling Al Khalifa family brought in Gulf Arab troops, mainly from Saudi Arabia, and imposed two months of martial law to end the uprising. Thousands were arrested and military trials were instituted during the martial law period.
The High Criminal Court of Appeals commuted the death sentence issued last year for two men convicted of killing two policemen to life in prison, lawyer Mohammed Al Jishi said. The court commuted the life sentences for two others involved in the same case to 15 years in jail, he said.
The court also cut to 15 years in prison the life sentences issued in October 2011 for 13 men for killing a Pakistan citizen during the protests, Jishi said. One man was set free.
“I don’t view these sentences as being reduced,” said Jishi, who defended seven people in the murder of the Pakistani national’s case.
“I think that if the court had applied the recommendations of the independent human rights commission the other 13 would have been acquitted.”
Widespread and excessive force, including confessions under torture, was detailed in a commission led by Cherif Bassiouni, a respected United Nations human rights lawyer, which published its findings and recommended measures to stop them.
Reuters
