Bahrain Mirror: The Bahraini Court of Appeal upheld the death sentence of Hussein Abdullah Marhoun, in the case of the death of a policeman, in a bombing that authorities said took place in Diraz in June 2017.

The fourth high criminal court had sentenced Marhoun to death and three others on November 12, 2018.

Authorities posted a photo of Mahroun less than two weeks after his arrest and forced disappearance in 2017, in which he seemed to looked completely different due to torture.

Activists said Maroun had previously been subject to multiple injuries during his participation in anti-government protests since 2011 and confirmed that he continued to be tortured during his imprisonment and suffered several injuries, including a skull fracture.

Ahmed Al-Hammadi, head of the Terrorist Crimes Prosecution, said the appeal court rejected the appeal challenging the death penalty issued by the first instance court in November 2018 against Marhoun and three others (who are outside prison).

He reiterated the prosecution's claims that the evidence the charges against the defendants were based on were the detailed confession of Marhoun, as well as the testimony of witnesses, reports of forensic evidence unit and photographs of the incident found on Marhoun's confiscated electronic devices.

The authorities claimed that the said Diraz bombing left one policeman killed and others injured, alleging that an explosive device was planted on the route of a security patrol, and then detonated by remote control.

Marhoun and the other defendants were charged with murder, possession of explosives and unauthorized weapons, detonation of an explosive device, the use of explosives, endangering public and private transport, damaging public property and training on the use of weapons and explosives for the purpose of committing crimes.

The court sentenced four defendants (including Marhoun) to death, three others to life imprisonment, fined them 1,000 dinars individually, and ordered all defendants to collectively pay the damages, also stripping them of their citizenships.

International rights organizations as well as UN bodies question the credibility of the security authorities and the fairness of litigation in Bahrain, after it has been proven that hundreds of political prisoners have been making confessions under torture.

Arabic Version