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 at imminent risk of execution pending ratification by the King, having exhausted all legal remedies.
The coalition of NGOs, including the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, also called for the commutation of all outstanding death sentences and an official moratorium on executions, with a view to abolish capital punishment in Bahrain.
On 21 May, 5 UN experts raised “serious concerns that [Al-Arab and Al-Malali] were coerced into making confessions through torture and did not receive a fair trial” and also urged the Government of Bahrain to “halt [their] imminent executions.”
Last week, 16 cross-party MPs appealed to Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt to intervene in the cases of Al-Arab and Al-Malali.
Commenting, Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, BIRD’s Director of Advocacy, said: “Al-Arab and Al-Malali have already endured horrific torture and have now been condemned to death by a kangaroo court. The human rights community united to spread the message that Bahrain’s actions are in violation of their international obligations. Allies in the West need to ramp up the pressure to avoid a catastrophic injustice.”
Read the full letter here.
