Bahrain Delays Verdict in Opposition Leaders’ Retrial

Local Editor

Bahrain on Tuesday delayed until September 4 a ruling in the retrial of 20 men convicted of leading an uprising, lawyers said.

The 20 men - including seven being tried in absentia - are believed to be among hundreds who an international rights commission assessed in November had been tortured during a period of martial law imposed to help quell the uprising. "The verdict was delayed to September 4," said Mohammed al-Jishi, a lawyer for some of the 13 men present in court for an expected reading of verdicts. The ruling kept the men in jail despite calls by protesters and rights groups for their release.
The presiding judge gave no reason for the postponement.
"It looks like the regime can't bring itself to take the hard decisions when it comes to reform and reconciliation," said Brian Dooley, director of the Human Rights Defenders Program at US-based group Human Rights First.
The hearing was attended by a number of foreign diplomats, underlining how the outcome is expected to have a weighty impact on the evolution of the crisis in the Gulf Arab island state.

During the session, angry defendants chanted: "We sacrifice our soul and blood for you, Bahrain". Lawyers said the judge appeared angered by chanting inside the courtroom.
Eight of the 20 men received life sentences, including rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and opposition leaders Hassan Mushaimaa and Abdulwahhab Hussein, who had called for turning the Gulf Arab monarchy into a republic. Similarly, the Sunni opposition leader Ibrahim Sharif was sentenced to five years. Those tried in absentia include blogger Ali Abdulemam, who was given a 15-year sentence and is in hiding.

London-based Amnesty International said last week it hoped all Bahraini detainees would be released in Tuesday's session, saying they were "prisoners of conscience".
In a speech on Tuesday marking the final days of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa claimed that "Bahrain had survived a period of "foreign plots" and was pushing ahead with reforms."
"During this year we lived arduous circumstances because of those hostile ambitions and foreign plots which never stopped, but we all stood together in the face of those who provoke strife," the king said, according to the state news agency BNA.

"But we are not ignorant of internal problems, which we are sparing no effort to solve... Bahrain has become a country of law, constitution, institutions, separation of powers, democracy and human rights."
A spokesman for Wefaq, the leading opposition party, said the king's speech and delay in the verdict showed the government felt it was under little real pressure from Washington.
"Wasting time makes the exit from this conflict much complicated," said Matar Matar, a former Wefaq parliamentarian.


Source: News agencies, Edited by moqawama.org