The United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings Agnès Callamard issued a statement on Friday which called for a last-minute stop to the planned execution of two men in Bahrain, according to The Guardian.
Ali Mohamed Hakeem al-Arab and Ahmed Isa Ahmed Isa al-Malali may be executed in the next 24 hours, according to human rights groups, even though they faced alleged torture during their questioning by police and were prevented from attending their trial.
Callamad said in a statement the men were sentenced to death in absentia.
“The authorities in Bahrain must immediately halt any plans to execute these men, annul the death sentences against them and ensure they are retried in accordance with international law and standards," Callamad said.
“Capital punishment may only be carried out for the most serious crimes and after a legal process which has included all possible safeguards aimed at ensuring a fair trial. I remind Bahrain that the only thing that distinguishes capital punishment from an arbitrary execution is full respect for the most stringent due process and fair trial guarantees.”
Lynn Maalouf, Amnesty International's Middle East research director, said the organization believed the executions were due to take place within the next 24 hours.
“If the Bahraini authorities go through with these executions it would be an utterly shameful show of contempt for human rights. The death penalty is an abhorrent assault on the right to life and the utmost cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment," said Maalouf. "Its use is appalling in all circumstances, but it is all the more shocking when it is imposed after an unfair trial in which the defendants were tortured to ‘confess’.”
Amnesty said during interrogation by security officers, the men were tortured using beatings and electric shocks, but Ali Mohamed al-Arab also had his toenails ripped out.
The two men were first convicted in a mass trial involving 60 people in January 2018 and have since exhausted all possible judicial appeals.
Amnesty said the men's families were suddenly summoned today to visit the men in prison, which had an increased security patrol today that raised concerns about an imminent execution.
Bahraini law requires that those being executed to receive a family visit on the same day that they are killed.
Bahrain is a small but powerful Gulf state since it's an ally of the United States and is situated between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
-WN.com, Maureen Foody