Bahrain Mirror: The High Criminal Court sentenced five Bahrainis to 3 years in prison and ordered the confiscation of seized items.

The Public Prosecution claimed that on (January 28, 2014) the defendants, along with other unknown suspects, started a fire, endangering people's lives and properties. The prosecution also accused them of taking part, along with other unknown suspects, in an assembly, as well as acquiring Molotov cocktails.

The authorities claim that the suspects agreed to block a Shahrakan entrance with wooden objects and set them on fire to lure the police, adding that when the police arrived, the suspects attacked them with Molotov cocktails.

Human rights organizations challenge the charges raised against political detainees, since they doubt the independence of the judiciary, whose members are assigned by royal decrees, and since it issues sentences based on confessions extracted under duress and evidence presented by secret investigations and anonymous witnesses.

Arabic Version