Protests in Bahrain against 'imminent execution' of prisoners

Angry demonstrators took to the streets of Bahrain on Saturday to protest the imminent executions of three men convicted of a deadly attack on police in 2014, which rights groups say was based on false confessions obtained under torture.

Bahrainis shared images of the protests on social media and messaging apps that showed some protesters marching peacefully and others blocking roads and clashing with police.

Protesters took to the streets in solidarity with inmates Abbas al-Samea, Sami Mushaima and Ali al-Signace.

The legal department at Bahrain’s death-row prison called the families of the three prisoners informing them to visit the prison on Saturday.

The authorities have refused to inform the families of the purpose of the meeting, leading to fears that it may be to inform them that their relatives either have been or will be executed imminently.

Bahrain’s code of criminal procedure states that under Article 330: “the relatives of the condemned will meet with him on the day appointed for the implementation of the sentence”.

The men were convicted in 2015 of killing two Bahraini and an Emirati policeman in a 2014 bomb attack.

A Bahraini court upheld their death sentences earlier this week.

London-based human right group Reprieve said all of the men were tortured by police after their arrest and at least two say they signed false confessions under duress.

“Reports that Bahrain is set to carry out its first executions in six years, based on confessions extracted through torture, are deeply alarming,” said Reprieve director Maya Foa.

“It is appalling that the families of those facing execution are being kept in the dark, and do not know whether their loved ones are even still alive.”

Hundreds have been arrested and put on trial since the crackdown on the Shia-led protests that took their cue from Arab Spring uprisings and called for a constitutional monarchy with an elected prime minister in the Sunni-ruled Gulf state.