URGENT ACTION

THREE MEN EXECUTED BY FIRING SQUAD IN BAHRAIN

On 27 July 2019, Ali Mohamed Hakeem al-Arab, Ahmed Isa Ahmed Isa al-Malali and another man were executed by firing squad at Jaw prison, south of the capital Manama. On 6 May 2019, the Bahraini Court of Cassation had upheld Ali al-Arab and Ahmed al-Malali’s convictions and death sentences. The two men were convicted of offences which include “forming and joining a ‘terrorist’ group”, following an unfair mass trial. Security officers tortured and ill-treated them both. The third man was convicted of murder in another case.

NO FURTHER ACTION IS REQUESTED. MANY THANKS TO ALL WHO SENT APPEALS.

On the morning of 27 July 2019, the Bahraini authorities executed Ali Mohamed Hakeem al-Arab, 25, Ahmed Isa Ahmed, 24, and another man, by firing squad in Jaw prison, despite an international outcry to halt the implementation of their execution. The day before, as per the Bahraini law, their families were summoned at short notice to visit the two men for a final time in Jaw prison, south of the capital, Manama, amidst heightened security. 

Amnesty International, other non-governmental organizations and the UN Special Rapporteur On Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions had all issued statements condemning the Bahraini authorities’ actions to pressure the Bahraini king to halt the executions.

Security forces arrested Ali al-Arab and Ahmed al-Malali separately on 9 February 2017 after the escape of a number of prisoners from Jaw prison a few days earlier. During the prison break a policeman was killed. 

Members of the Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) tortured the two men including through beatings and electric-shocks. They also pulled off Ali al-Arab’s toenails. Both were forced to sign “confessions” which the courts later admitted to convict and sentence them. 

Ali al-Arab and Ahmed al-Malali were tried along with 58 other defendants on charges including “forming and joining a ‘terrorist’ group”, “training on the use of weapons and explosives” and “murder and attempted murder of police officers”. On 6 May 2019, the Cassation Court upheld the verdicts including Ali al-Arab and Ahmad al-Malali’s death sentences. 

The last executions that took place in Bahrain took place on 15 January 2017, after a nearly seven-year hiatus, when, following a grossly unfair trial, three Bahraini men were executed. Bahrain is a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which recognizes the right to life and the right to a fair trial, which includes the right not to be compelled to testify against himself or to confess guilt. The UN Human Rights Committee has stated that "the imposition of a sentence of death upon conclusion of a trial in which the provisions of the [International] Covenant [on Civil and Political Rights] have not been respected constitutes a violation of article 6 of the Covenant” [right to life].

NAME AND PREFERRED PRONOUN: Ali Mohamed Hakeem al-Arab (He/him) and Ahmed Issa Ahmed Issa al-Malali (He/him)

THIS IS THE THIRD AND FINAL UPDATE FOR UA 69/17

LINK TO PREVIOUS UA: https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde11/0341/2019/en/