Human Rights Watch (HRW) has described the trial of Bahrain’s prominent opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman as unfair and politically motivated, urging the ruling Al Khalifa regime to release him immediately.
The high-profile rights body said Tuesday that a review of documents in Salman’s most recent court shows that he was convicted on charges that violate the right to freedom of expression.
“The authorities should vacate Sheikh Ali Salman’s conviction on charges that violate the right to freedom of expression and release him without delay,” said a statement on the HRW’s website.
Sheikh Ali Salman is the leader of Bahrain’s main opposition bloc, the al-Wefaq Islamic Society. He was arrested last year and sentenced to four years in jail in July for what the regime calls inciting hatred. Prosecutors in Bahrain say Salman’s detention is related to a series of speeches and sermons in which the senior cleric offended the regime.
The HRW noted, however, that the presiding judge in Salman’s case refused to let his lawyers present crucial evidence to prove his innocence.
“The court’s refusal to consider crucial defense evidence confirms the political nature of Sheikh Ali Salman’s prosecution,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East director of the HRW, adding, “The manifest unfairness of the trial means the authorities should release Salman immediately.”
The HRW also criticized the court for relying on testimony from Bahrain’s Interior Minister Khalid al-Sa’idi instead of reviewing actual content of Salman’s speeches. The statement said that Sa’idi’s written description of Salman’s speeches may have “misrepresented” their content.
The Bahraini court has already acquitted Salman of one of his major charges, namely advocating the overthrow of the regime.
However, the revered cleric was sentenced to four years in prison over three speech-related charges on June 16.
The HRW said the court has based its ruling on “wrong” testimony by Sa’idi, which had claimed that during a sermon on October 10, 2014, Salman said, “The people have bigger and bigger force in them. All that you need to do is call forth this force. I’m talking now about military force.”
The rights body said a recording of the actual speech, which can be easily found on the Internet, shows that Salman actually said “I am not talking about military force.”
Bahrain has scheduled Salman’s appeal for September 16. His four-year ruling is based on three two-year convictions, two of which will be implemented concurrently. Salman was also sentenced to two years in prison for insulting the Bahraini Interior Ministry, a maximum penalty for such cases in the Persian Gulf kingdom.
Opposition figures and rights activists have criticized Manama for handing down such harsh sentences, saying the rulings run counter to the Bahraini government’s ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which stipulates that “states parties should not prohibit criticism of institutions, such as the army or the administration.”
“The behavior of the court in Sheikh Ali Salman’s case shows again that Bahrain’s justice system has been incapable of delivering justice,” Whitson stated.
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