UN Rights Chief:

Bahrain Mass Trial Raises Deep Concern

Date: 19 April 2019 - 21:56

News ID: ۶۴۹۸۷

GENEVA (Dispatches) – United Nations human rights chief Michelle Bachelet says she is concerned that a Bahrain mass trial that revoked the nationality of 138 people this week had not met international fair trial standards.
A court in Western-allied Bahrain sentenced 139 people to jail on terrorism charges on Tuesday and revoked the citizenship of all but one of them, the public prosecutor said, in the latest mass trial in the kingdom.
"There are serious concerns that the court proceedings failed to comply with international fair trial standards, with a large number of the accused reportedly tried in absentia,” Bachelet said in a statement. Revocation of nationality can have serious consequences in daily life, including the denial of the right to health, education and freedom of movement, she added.
"Tuesday's convictions give rise to serious concerns about the application of the law, particularly through a mass trial that reportedly lacked the procedural safeguards necessary to ensure a fair trial,” Bachelet further said.
The UN official said the deprivation of nationality "must not be arbitrary”, particularly on "discriminatory grounds” and that such a measure could place the affected people and their family members in a situation of "increased vulnerability to human rights violations.”
Bachelet also voiced the world body’s concern at reports of torture or other ill-treatment of some of those convicted, strongly calling on Bahraini authorities to take "immediate steps” to stop such violations.
This is the second such mass trial in Bahrain in weeks. In the last case in February 2019, 167 people were convicted, primarily for participation in a non-violent sit-in protest against the Al Khalifah regime.
Since 2011, when a popular uprising began against Al Khalifah, the kingdom which hosts the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet has prosecuted hundreds of protesters in mass trials and banned main opposition groups as a part of a heavy-handed crackdown aimed at stifling opposition voices.
Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since the popular uprising began.
They are demanding that the Al Khalifah regime relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established.
Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or got arrested as a result of the Al Khalifah regime’s crackdown.

Bahraini anti-government protesters wave national flags and hold up images of jailed political leaders during a protest after midday prayers in Diraz, Bahrain, May 8, 2015.