BAHRAIN: FURTHER INFORMATION: DEATH SENTENCES UPHELD AGAIN ON APPEAL

Additional information 

On 8 January 2020, the conviction and death sentences of the two men were upheld in presence of representatives of the EU, US, UK France and Germany. The case will now go again before the Court of Cassation.

On 25 December 2019, Jaw prison authorities told Hussain Ali Moosa and Mohamed Ramadhan to ready themselves to appear that day before the High Criminal Court of Appeal so as to hear the verdict in their case. Shortly after, the two men were told that they would not be taken to court, but were not informed of the reason why. In court, in the presence of representatives of the UK, France and Germany, the judge postponed issuing his decision as the two men were not brought in.

Security forces arrested Hussain Ali Moosa, a hotel employee, on 21 February 2014, and Mohamed Ramadhan on 20 March 2014 at Bahrain International Airport where he worked as a member of the security forces. The two men were taken to the Criminal Investigations Department where they were tortured during interrogation. Mohamed Ramadhan refused to sign a “confession” but Hussain Ali Moosa said he was coerced to confess to the crime and incriminate Mohamed Ramadhan after being suspended by the limbs and beaten for several days. His “confession” was later used as main evidence in the trial to convict both men. Hussain Ali Moosa and Mohamed Ramadhan are held in Jaw prison in south Manama, Bahrain’s capital.

On 29 December 2014, a criminal court sentenced Mohamed Ramadhan and Hussain Ali Moosa to death for the killing of a policeman, who died in a bomb explosion in al-Deir, a village northeast of Manama, on 14 February 2014. The High Criminal Court of Appeal upheld their conviction and death sentences on 30 March 2015 and the Court of Cassation confirmed them on 16 November 2015.

Despite receiving complaints from Mohamed Ramadhan’s wife and a US-based NGO in 2014, the Ombudsman’s office failed to investigate the allegations of torture for two years. In April 2016, the Ombudsman incorrectly informed the UK government that it had received “no allegations of mistreatment or torture” in relation to Mohamed Ramadhan. Following international pressure, the Ombudsman told the UK government in July 2016 that it had committed to undertake “a full, independent investigation”, subsequently interviewing Mohamed Ramadhan’s wife and lawyer.

On 28 March 2018, the Public Prosecutor confirmed having received from the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) a memorandum on the SIU’s investigations into the complaints that Mohamed Ramadhan and Hussain Ali Moosa had lodged about their torture. Based on the SIU’s recommendations, the cases were referred to the Minister of Justice, who in early May 2018 sent an application to the Court of Cassation for re-consideration of the verdicts. The SIU claimed to have uncovered medical reports by doctors of the Ministry of Interior indicating that the two men had been tortured. These reports had not been made available during the trial. On 22 October 2018, the Bahraini Court of Cassation overturned the death sentences imposed on the two men resting on new evidence based on medical reports by doctors of the Ministry of Interior which indicated that the two men had been tortured and ordered the High Criminal Court of Appeal to re-examine the cases under a new panel of judges.

Bahrain is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which recognizes the right to life and the right to a fair trial, which includes the right not to be compelled to testify against himself or to confess guilt. The UN Human Rights Committee has stated that "the imposition of a sentence of death upon conclusion of a trial in which the provisions of the [International] Covenant [on Civil and Political Rights] have not been respected constitutes a violation of article 6 of the Covenant” [right to life]. In its 2012 report, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions has reiterated that “it is arbitrary to impose the death penalty where the proceedings do not adhere to the highest standards of fair trial.”