Germany urges Bahrain to lift pro-freedom activists' death verdict
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Berlin, Apr 29, IRNA -- Germany has called on Bahrain on Friday to halt the execution of four activists sentenced to death by a military court in the small Persian Gulf kingdom.
Talking to media representatives in Berlin, German foreign ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke urged the Bahraini regime to waive the verdicts.
He stressed the draconian sentences were an obstacle on 'the way towards a rapprochement and reconciliation' in Bahrain.
A military court in Bahrain on Thursday sentenced four protesters to death and three to life in jail for allegedly killing of two police officers, in a trial which triggered condemnation from international human rights organizations.
Numerous rights groups condemned the trial as unjust, saying the defendants were allowed only limited access to legal counsel and trial proceedings.
The seven had pleaded 'not guilty', but pre-recorded confessions were aired on state television after the verdict was announced.
Peschke urged the Bahraini leadership to pave the way for a political process which would include the political and economic participation of all segments of the Bahraini population.
In other related news, the human rights coordinator of the German government Markus Loening called for the release of all political prisoners in Bahrain as well as an investigation of the recent violent security crackdown in that country.
He reaffirmed the right of all Bahraini citizens to gather peacefully and express their opinion freely.
Dozens of Bahraini protesters have been killed in government crackdowns which included also the use of live ammunition, human rights activists say.
Hundreds of people had been arrested, and hundreds more were fired from their jobs for participating in pro-democracy demonstrations against the Bahraini regime which began in mid-February.
Violence escalated further last month after Saudi troops were deployed in Bahrain and a state of emergency was declared to help quell the unrest.
The state of emergency bans all public meetings and permits arbitrary arrests and the trial of civilians in military courts.
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