the increasing rate of executions in the
country raises concerns that this may change
in the near future.
Bahrain's execution process lacks
transparency and predictability, creating an
environment of uncertainty for death row
prisoners who face execution without proper
notice. Once a death sentence has been
con rmed and rati ed by the King, there is
no legal timetable for when the execution will
take place. Some have remained on death
row for two to four years after the nal
con rmation of their death sentence by the
Court of Cassation, while others have been
executed as early as 16 days after exhausting
all appeals.
Data presented by Reprieve & BIRD (2021)
suggests a pattern of human rights violations
in Bahrain, particularly in relation to
individuals on death row accused of
terrorism-related offences. The majority
(83%) of those executed since 2011 were
convicted of terrorist offences, in contrast to
the previous decade, when no such
convictions were made. Each of these men
claimed to have been tortured in custody.
This trend continues among those currently
awaiting execution, 46% of whom have been
convicted of terrorism-related offences.
Almost all (92%) of these individuals claim to
have been tortured by the Bahraini
authorities, with some (27%) even claiming
that their confessions were falsely obtained
through torture.
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Moreover, these cases appear to be linked to
political opposition, all of them related to
dissent against the Bahraini regime.
In its 2017 review, the UN Committee Against
Torture expressed concerns about Bahrain's
compliance with the Convention Against
Torture, to which it is a signatory. They
highlighted de ciencies in both the
Ombudsman and the Special Investigations
Unit (SIU), suggesting that these bodies
could not conduct adequate torture
investigations in line with Bahrain's
international obligations.
This view was echoed by the International
Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims
(IRCT) in their 2020 review of a death penalty
case, nding the investigations conducted by
the Ombudsman and the SIU to be
inadequate, ineffective and biased and called
for the verdict to be overturned.