French Parliamentarians call on Bahrain to halt execution orders against activists
39 French Parliamentarians demanded the government of Bahrain to halt the execution orders against Mohammad Ramadan and Hussein Mousa, who are convicted of killing a policeman in a blast in 2014.
39 French Parliamentarians demanded the government of Bahrain to halt the execution orders against Mohammad Ramadan and Hussein Mousa, who are convicted of killing a policeman in a blast in 2014.
The letter the Parliamentarians sent on July 23, 2020, focuses on the July 13, 2020 decision of the Court of Cassation which upheld the death sentence against Mohammed Ramadan and Hussein Mousa.
Security forces arrested Mousa, 33, on February 21, 2014, and Ramadan, 37, on February 18, 2014, on charges of attacking police. Ramadan and Mousa were convicted and sentenced to death on December 29, 2014.
The French Parliamentarians join calls issued by their American, British, Italian, and European colleagues, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to halt the execution orders against Mohammad Ramadan and Hussein Mousa, and to allow them a new trial that adheres to international standards and norms around due process rights.
The French Parliamentarians recalled the communications made by the European Parliament which expressed concern about violations of the Istanbul Protocol in the present case, and highlighted that Mr. Ramadan and Mr. Mousa were subjected to torture in the coercion of confessions for the participation in the abovementioned bombing.
The letter adds to the growing international pressure on the Kingdom to halt the use of torture in the judicial and penal systems, and is complemented by a joint letter to the king issued by 16 international and Bahraini rights groups, including Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB), the Bahraini Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) and Human Rights Watch. It is hoped that the combination of these letters will increase pressure on the Bahraini king to use his executive power to pardon the twelve political prisoners who remain at imminent risk of execution.
