Cairo: Bahrain’s top appeals court Monday confirmed for the second time death sentencing against two people convicted of killing a policeman in an attack more than six years ago, the country’s attorney general Haroun Al Zayani said.
The case dates back to February 2014 when both convicts and others had unleashed an attack on security forces using petrol bombs and iron bars. The attack led to the killing of one policeman and injuring others.
In December 2014, the Major Criminal Court sentenced the two defendants to death and a third to imprisonment for life on charges of involvement in premediated murder and possession of explosives for a terrorist purpose and holding an illegal gathering. The convicts appealed the rulings.
In May 2015, the appeals court rejected their contestation and upheld the verdicts. In November that year, Bahrain’s Court of Cassation, the top appeals tribunal, upheld the death sentences, making it final.
Later, an investigation unit found medical reports pertaining to one of the convicts that had not been forwarded to the court during hearings of the case. Consequently, the public prosecutor referred the issue to the justice minister, who in turn presented a request to the chief judge of the top court to reconsider the verdict already issued against the two convicts to comply with “dictates of justice”, the attorney general said.
In response, the top court approved the minister’s request and revoked the death sentencing earlier handed down to the two and sent the case back to the appeals court to hear it anew.
Public hearings were held, attended by both defendants. The court listened to testimonies from doctors and witnesses for both prosecution and defence.
In January this year, the court unanimously sentenced the two to death, saying that the medical reports were unrelated to police or prosecution procedures and that the defendants had made confessions without coercion that were also corroborated by evidence.
“The ruling was then sent to the Court of Cassation that confirmed it today [Monday] after it verified its validity and compliance with stipulations of the law,” the attorney general said.
