Despite pressure from the UN and the international community, the death penalty continues to be part of the Bahraini legal system.
In January 2017, capital punishment resumed within the Kingdom, with three torture victims, Abbas AlSameea, Sami Mushaima and Ali Alsingace, executed six days after the Court of Cassation upheld their death sentence. Crimes that warrant the death penalty include treason, terrorism, apostasy and drug trafficking. The absence of a precise definition of terrorism has allowed the Bahraini government to exploit its legal system so as to criminalise acts of opposition, free expression and assembly. The death penalty is conducted via firing squads.
As of December 2018, there are currently 20 Bahraini nationals on death row, all sentenced in political cases. Most of the inmates relate they have been tortured in order to extract a confession that was then used against them at their trial.
Of the 20 death-row inmates, 5 individuals are at imminent risk of execution, having exhausted all domestic remedies. The final step in their case before implementation of the death sentence is ratification of the sentence by the King.
Not only does the death penalty itself stand in conflict with the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights, but those sentenced to death regularly report instances of undue process, torture and violations of personal and human rights.
18 October – Yesterday, the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) and the Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR) co-hosted an event at Parliament to highlight... Read more
17 October 2019 – At least 26 Bahraini prisoners have joined a hunger strike to protest against the obstruction of family visits at Bahrain’s Jau Prison. The strike was launched on 10... Read more
07 August 2019 – New evidence obtained by BIRD has emerged implicating Bahraini Embassy staff in the assault of a protester who had scaled the building on the eve of the execution of t... Read more
31 July 2019 – A young protester died in the morning of 28 July at Salmaniya Medical Complex in Manama, Bahrain, a few hours after participating in protests against the execution of tw... Read more
27 July 2019 – Two torture victims, Ali AlArab (25) and Ahmed AlMalali (24), as well as a third unnamed individual, were executed by firing squad in Bahrain this morning, according to the Ba... Read more
27 July 2019 – Last night, the Metropolitan Police broke down the door of the Bahrain Embassy in London to save a Bahraini dissident from assault from the embassy’s security staf... Read more
26 July 2019 – Two men are likely to be executed tomorrow in Bahrain, two days after the House of Lords questioned the British Government over the risk that UK taxpayers are funding hu... Read more
25 July 2019 – Yesterday, at the House of Lords’ afternoon session, Liberal Democrat Peer Lord Scriven asked about the government’s assessment of the human rights situation in Bahrain.... Read more
30 May 2019 – Today, 13 rights groups wrote to King Hamad bin Isa AlKhalifa to urge him to commute the death sentences of torture victims Ali Al-Arab and Ahmed Al-Malali. Both men are... Read more
16 Cross-party MPs wrote a letter to the foreign secretary Head of Jau Prison visited the UK last month – the trip was paid by Bahrain and it costs MoJ £69 5 UN Experts said it... Read more
