AhlulBayt News Agency – Bahrain’s Fifth High Criminal Court, presided over by judge Abdullah Al-Ashraf with the memberships of judges Mohsen Mabrouk and Motaz Abu Al-Ezz and Abdullah Mohammad as secretariat, sentenced 16 suspects accused of assembling, acquiring Molotov cocktails and starting fire in Sanabis to 7 years in prison and ordered the confiscation of seized items.
The Public Prosecution claimed that the suspects that on March 17, 2014, along with others, deliberately set fire to movable property, endangering people’s lives and properties for a terrorist purpose.
The authorities allege that on the day of incident about 20 citizens staged a protest and hurled Molotov cocktails at police patrols located in Street 2 in Bahrain’s Sanabis. The police confronted them, leading the suspects to flee into the village. The suspects hurled Molotov cocktails in the direction of a farm on the street, which started a fire. The prosecution’s investigations led them to the 16 suspects who allegedly took part in the incident, who werre taken into custody.
Human rights organizations challenge the charges raised against the defendants, 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.
