The Bahraini High Criminal Court sentenced four political detainees, including two children, to jail.
The court sentenced Hassan Mubarak, 15, to three-year in jail and Youssef Yasser, 17 years, for six months imprisonment.
The court also sentenced Salman Ali Salman to 15 years in prison, and Jassim Muhammad for 10 years.
The court’s ruling was issued in flagrant violation of the Restorative Justice Law that was issued in 2021 to guarantee exemplary treatment for Bahrain children.
In a letter sent to the EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell, a group of MEPs voiced their “deep concern” about the deterioration of human rights in Bahrain.
“We are deeply concerned by the ongoing deterioration of human rights in Bahrain, following a year where, as highlighted by Human Rights Watch, there has been an ‘escalated repression’ of the Bahrain government against critics’,” the letter said.
“We therefore kindly urge you to take this opportunity to hold your Bahrain counterparts accountable for their human rights commitments by raising the cases of European-Bahrain dual citizens Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja and Sheikh Mohammad Habib Al-Muqdad and urging Bahrain to restore their moratorium on the death penalty,” the letter added.
The MEPs also drew attention to what they called the kingdom’s de facto suspension in 2017 of a moratorium on the death penalty, highlighting that five of six executions that have taken place were deemed arbitrary by UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, Agnes Callamard.
