UN ‘Appalled’ by Manama Regime’s Execution of Activists

Local Editor

The United Nations expressed distress at the execution of three anti-regime activists in Bahrain over their alleged role in killing policemen during a pro-democracy demonstration.

"We are appalled at the execution by firing squad of three men in Bahrain on Sunday," UN human rights commissioner spokesman Rupert Colville said in a statement on Tuesday.

Colville noted that the defendants' confessions were supposedly obtained under torture, and that their lawyers were not given access to all the evidence against them nor allowed to cross-examine prosecution witnesses.

"We again urge Bahrain to impose a moratorium on the use of death penalty," the top UN official said, adding that Manama should work to "abolish the death penalty definitively."

Colville added there were "serious doubts whether the accused were provided with the right to fair trial."

On January 15, Bahrain executed Abbas al-Samea, 27, Sami Mushaima, 42, and Ali al-Singace, 21, by firing squad.

The killings came a week after the Court of Cassation upheld death sentences against the trio after finding them ‘guilty' of killing three policemen, including an Emirati officer, in the northern village of al-Daih back in March 2014.

Condemnations have poured in from across the world, even Bahrain's allies, against the executions.

On Tuesday, the United States reprimanded Bahrain over the executions.

"We're concerned that these executions occurred at a time of elevated tension in Bahrain," US State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team