Three executions in Bahrain imminent without urgent action

Families of three men on Bahrain's death row fear their executions are about to take place, which would make them the first in the Gulf kingdom since 2010.

False confessions obtained under torture were used to convict the trio.

This comes just one month after Theresa May's visit to the Gulf, and in the wake of an explicit deprioritisation of human rights in favour of trade.

The legal department at Bahrain's death-row prison called the families of Abbas al-Samea, Sami Mushaima, and Ali al-Singace this morning (14th) and told them to visit the prison today.

The authorities have refused to inform the families of the purpose of the meeting, leading to fears that it may be to inform them that their relatives either have been or will be executed imminently.

Bahrain's code of criminal procedure states that under Article 330: “the relatives of the condemned will meet with him on the day appointed for the implementation of the sentence”.

Several unofficial pro-government twitter accounts have tweeted about possible executions, and heightened security measures in Bahrain's prisons have also been observed.

The men's death sentences were upheld by Bahrain's highest court last Monday (9th) with unprecedented speed, removing any legal barrier to their executions and leaving the timing down to the King to decide.

One twitter account which appears to be run by a Bahraini security official claimed this morning that Bahrain's King Hamad has endorsed the executions and that they will take place soon. A former Bahraini MP has welcomed reports that the King has signed off on the executions.

All of the men were tortured by police after their arrest and at least two say they signed false confessions under duress.

Mr Mushaima was forced to sign documents despite being illiterate. He is a relative of a prominent opposition politician, but has never been involved in activism.

Mr al-Samea, a school teacher, was admitted to hospital for surgery as a result of his interrogation. He made complaints against the police which were investigated by UK-trained oversight institutions, however they claimed he had wounded himself resisting arrest.

Mr al-Singace was arrested as a teenager and convicted in absentia. When he was arrested, police tortured him with electric shocks.

The UK government has spent millions of pounds on human rights 'reforms' in Bahrain since protests swept the Kingdom in 2011, training police officers, prison guards at the death row jail and oversight bodies.

Commenting, Maya Foa, a director of Reprieve, said:

"Reports that Bahrain is set to carry out its first executions in six years, based on confessions extracted through torture, are deeply alarming.

It is appalling that the families of those facing execution are being kept in the dark, and do not know whether their loved ones are even still alive.

Britain has provided millions of pounds of funding to supposedly reform Bahrain's justice system. It must intervene to make clear that these executions cannot go ahead.”

Commenting, Sayed AlWadaei, advocacy director of Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, said:

“Bahrain will enter a new dark era if the executions are carried out. This is the most heinous crime committed in Bahrain justice system and a shame to its rulers. This could have been avoided if the UK trained bodies were not complicit in covering up their torture. Bahrain was able to commit those crimes because it felt the international community was silent on its gross human rights violations”

➤ Reprieve's research into UK support for Bahrain is available here, while further detail about the cases is available on request.

Source: Reprieve, January 14, 2017. Reprieve is an international human rights organization.

⚑ | Report an error, an omission, a typo; suggest a story or a new angle to an existing story; submit a piece, a comment; recommend a resource; contact the webmaster, contact us: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com.

Opposed to Capital Punishment? Help us keep this blog up and running! DONATE!

Florida Set to Execute Man Who Said He Killed to Reach Death Row, Challenging Misconception that Death Penalty Deters Crime

Florida is scheduled to execute James Robertson at noon on Tuesday, October 13, at Florida State Prison. His execution remains scheduled despite the withdrawal of William Lee Thompson’s death warrant, which had called for a 2nd execution that evening. If completed, this will be Florida’s 17th execution of 2026. Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) and partners will be holding a series of vigils and demonstrations across the state.

Christa Pike: 4 Major Questions As She Returns to Death Row

As Christa Pike returns to death row after surviving Tennessee’s attempt to execute her, several questions remain about her case and what comes next. Pike, 50, was discharged from hospital and moved back to the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center, the women’s prison where she was housed for 30 years, her attorneys said on Saturday. She was hospitalized after surviving 2 doses of the lethal drug pentobarbital as Tennessee attempted to execute her on September 30. Pike was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, her classmate at a Job Corps training program in Knoxville, Tennessee. Pike was 18 at the time.

Christa Pike's Survival Wasn't a Miracle. That's What Should Scare Us.

What happened in Tennessee's execution chamber is one of the most common failures in medicine Christa Pike is awake. A week after Tennessee strapped her to a gurney and gave her two doses of pentobarbital , she is off the ventilator and speaking from a hospital bed, still shackled to it. Her lawyers call her recovery " medically unprecedented. " Legal scholars say she is the first person in American history to survive a lethal injection after the drug was actually given. I understand the impulse to make such claims. I consulted for Pike's legal team, but I have also spent three decades in operating rooms and intensive care units (ICUs), and I want to resist the word "unprecedented" and the word "miracle" that hovers just behind it.

Florida executes James Robertson

STARKE, Fla. — A Florida prisoner who said he killed his cellmate specifically to get on death row was executed Tuesday, nearly 18 years after the attack. James Robertson, 63, declined to offer any last words before receiving a three-drug injection and was pronounced dead about 10 minutes later. It was a stark contrast to the failed execution of Christa Pike in Tennessee two weeks ago, where she was rushed to the hospital after surviving two lethal doses of pentobarbital.

USA | Firing squad execution to be livestreamed, Pentagon says

The public will be able to watch the execution of a former US Army major by firing squad, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said. A Defense Department official told the BBC the execution of Nidal Hasan, who shot dead 13 unarmed US soldiers at Fort Hood in 2009, would be livestreamed. It is believed it would be the first public execution in the US in almost a century. The decision to livestream it is "unprecedented in the modern era" and "on uncertain legal terrain", said John Mills, a lawyer who works with inmates sentenced to death.

Saudi Arabia executes two Bangladeshis over 'immoral act' inside mosque

Saudi Arabia has carried out the death penalty on two Bangladeshi nationals in Mecca. The country's Interior Ministry announced this in a statement on Wednesday. According to the report, they were sentenced over allegations of involvement in immoral acts inside a mosque in Mecca. The information was reported by Ajel News, citing the Saudi Interior Ministry's statement. The two Bangladeshis executed were a man and a woman, Nazrul Islam Abdul Basir and Sithi Akhter. The “immoral acts” referred to illicit heterosexual intercourse, not homosexual activity.

What Tennessee wants to do next to Christa Pike is beyond grim

Christa Pike, the woman who survived two execution attempts in Tennessee earlier this week, remains hospitalized in critical condition, where presumably medical staff is at work trying to keep her alive. If she wakes from the coma she had entered, Tennessee officials want to start anew to inject lethal drugs into her seemingly too-small veins to kill her and carry out the state death warrant. Pike also is being treated for “significant injuries to both arms” sustained when two lethal injections of pentobarbital failed to kill her. If she dies, there will be no need to try again. As we know by now, Tennessee tried to put Pike to death Wednesday night by lethal injection for a murder she committed when she was 18. She would have been the first woman executed in the state in 200 years.

Tennessee | Republicans legislature to investigate other execution methods after failed lethal injections

Republican leaders in Tennessee’s legislature say they will investigate the reliability of lethal injection as an execution method after the state failed to execute two death row inmates in the span of five months. Gov. Bill Lee stopped the May execution of Tony Carruthers after a physician unsuccessfully attempted to insert intravenous lines to begin the lethal injection process for over an hour. Death row inmate Christa Pike survived two failed rounds of Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol on Sept. 30 before the execution was halted. Pike, who was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of Colleen Slemmer, is receiving medical care in a Nashville hospital.

Buffalo Tops shooter files last-minute bid to avoid death penalty

Payton Gendron, who is already serving life without parole for killing 10 Black people in a racist mass shooting at a Buffalo supermarket in 2022, is asking a federal judge to throw out the case that could send him to death row. Defense attorneys filed the motion Monday — a day before jury selection was scheduled to begin — seeking to dismiss Gendron’s federal indictment. They argued that Black residents are underrepresented in the jury pool for New York’s Western District, according to WIVB and WKBW.

Opinion | I Know Christa Pike’s Medical History. What Tennessee Did Is Unforgivable.

Dr. Zivot is an anesthesiologist and intensive care physician. He consulted on Christa Pike’s case before her attempted execution. On Wednesday night, Christa Pike lay strapped to a gurney at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville while the State of Tennessee injected pentobarbital, a sedative that is lethal in high doses, into her veins. When the 1st dose did not kill her, the execution team gave her a 2nd. At one point, she told the room her arm felt as if it were about to burst. She was nearly correct. More than an hour after the procedure began, an ambulance was called. She was severely injured but still alive.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog