Manama: Bahrain's Cassation Court on Monday overturned the Court of Appeals ruling condemning two Bahrainis to death and five others to life in prison for their alleged role in the killing of two policemen in March.
The Court of Appeals will now have to look again at the case and issue a new verdict. The Cassation Court was the ultimate legal resort for the seven defendants who have appealed against the sentences delivered by National Safety courts.
The defendants have been charged with "deliberately killing" Kashef Ahmad Manzoor and Mohammad Farouq Abdul Samad, both working for the interior ministry. According to the case papers, the defendants hit the policemen with large vans and then ran over them in an open area near the former Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Roundabout, popularly known as the Pearl Roundabout, the epicentre of the protests and the focal point of the demonstrations held in February and March.
The National Safety Court of First Instance ruled in late April that Ali Abdullah Hassan Al Singees, Qassim Hassan Mattar Ahmad, Saeed Abdul Jalil Saeed and Abdul Aziz Abdul Rida Ebrahim Hussain should be executed for their alleged role in the policemen's death.
The lower court also sentenced Eisa Abdullah Kadhem Ali, Syed Sadiq Ali Mahdi and Hussain Jaafar Abdul Kareem to life in prison. However, the Court of Appeals in May upheld the death penalties against Ali Abdullah Hassan Al Singees and Abdul Aziz Abdul Rida Ebrahim Hussain, but commuted the other two to life in prison.
