Bahrain’s Supreme Judicial Council on Saturday announced that the committee set up to implement Bahrain’s Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) recommendations has completed its work regarding the implementation of recommendation No. 1720 included in BICI report.
The committee revealed that 165 conviction verdicts were handed down by the National Safety Courts to 502 convicts. The Committee has also found out that 135 verdicts were appealed and are being processed by ordinary courts according to the law.
The Committee also found out that after ending the State of National Safety, 1622 cases were referred from the Military Prosecution to the Public Prosecution, of which 1185 have been shelved.
The Public Prosecution has also dropped 334 charges related to freedom of opinion and expression.
A total of 30 cases have not been appealed before ordinary courts. The committee reviewed these judgments in accordance with the constitutional and legal rules as well as the international human rights principles, mainly the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in its articles 6, 19 and 20 on the right to a fair trial and freedom of opinion, expression and gathering.
The commission concluded the recommendation of the following in 11 cases: Dropping the charges and excluding them from the daily precedents record for 5 defendants, taking into consideration only the penalty executed in relation to the four defendants, the exclusion of the charge in relation to one defendant, and dropping the charge for of the precedents record for one defendant.