Manama prohibited any media coverage in the case against ten Bahraini civilians, who are being tried before a military court.
Manama prohibited any media coverage in the case against ten Bahraini civilians, who are being tried before a military court.
The announcement came only moments after the third session of the trial warped up on Thursday.
The head of Bahrain’s military justice department, Youssef Fleifel, announced that the ban extended to “print, visual, audio or electronic media”.
Fleifel claimed that the move was in the interest of the general public and would “preserve the integrity of the evidence”.
But the military trial of civilians – the first of its kind in Bahrain following a widely criticized constitutional amendment in April – is already seen as highly controversial.
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), Manama “made clear once again that justice is the last thing that Bahraini citizens can expect”.
Four of the defendants, who are being accused of belonging to a civilian “terrorist cell” were forcibly disappeared by the kingdom’s security apparatus.
