Bahrain refused international calls, keeps Sheikh Ali Salman in detention
Ahlul Bayt News Agency – The Court of Appeals in Bahrain has refused to release Sheikh Ali Salman, Secretary General of Al Wefaq National Islamic Society, in a hearing held this morning.
The Bahraini Authority is to keep the opposition leader in detention despite the fact that the court’s ruling to lock him up lacked fundamental bases of a fair trial. Salman’s lawyers had complained that they as well as himself were prevented from presenting oral argument. The court also refused the lawyers’ request to see a footage of Salman’s speech of which he is being charged for. Also, their complaint against the prosecution witness was overlooked by the court.
Al Wefaq outlines that the regime in Bahrain continues to turn its back on international calls to abolish trials that lack international standards of a fair trial, most recently, through a joint statement signed by 33 states in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
In the statement, the states highlighted harassment and imprisonment of persons exercising their rights to freedom of opinion and expression and of peaceful assembly and association, including human rights defenders and the lack of sufficient guarantees of fair trial.
The statement also reiterated calls for the Government to revive the necessary conditions for the resumption of an open and inclusive national dialogue.
Al Wefaq is demanding the immediate release of Sheikh Ali Salman and for the Authorities launch genuine negotiations to meet the legitimate demands of the majority of the Bahraini people instead of insisting on an iron fist.
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