Amnesty : Bahrain trial process inherently unfair

Wednesday's decision in Bahrain to uphold guilty verdicts against prominent opposition activists “exposes yet again the inherent unfairness of the country's trial process,” says Amnesty International. “By upholding this verdict, Bahrain’s military justice system has once again showed it has no intention of meeting international fair trial standards for anyone the authorities perceive as a political foe,” said Amnesty's Middle East director Malcolm Smart. “These men should never have been brought before a military court,” Smart said in a statement obtained by IRNA. The outcome was “all-too-predictable.” A group of 21 defendants, who all deny charges relating to peaceful protests, were appealing against convictions, including seven life sentences, handed down by a military court in Manama in June. But the London-based human rights group said the proceedings upholding the verdicts were again held at a “military-run” National Safety Court of Appeal and “lasted less than five minutes.” “It is high time for Bahrain’s King, Shaikh Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa, to end this travesty once and for all by ordering the immediate release of the defendants or, failing that, their fair re-trial before a properly constituted civilian court,” said Smart. He also condemned the Bahraini authorities for not initiating “any independent and impartial investigation into allegations of torture made by some of the defendants.”