Bahrain Kangaroo Court Tries Activist on Trumped Up charges – King says Emergency Law to End

Bahrain emergency to be lifted 1 June as opposition face military court
By RFI

Emergency rule in Bahrain is to be lifted on 1 June, state news agency BNA says. Earlier Sunday opposition leaders appeared before a military court, charged with forming a terrorist organisation which aimed to overthrow the monarchy.

King Hamad Al-Khalifa on Sunday ordered that the state of emergency will be lifted at the end of the month. The trial of the 21 – seven of whom are abroad and to be tried in absentia – was adjounred until Thursday.

Only lawyers and two members of the family of each defendant were allowed to attend the trial, according to the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights. Lawyers are banned from talking to the media, the organisation said.

The group includes both Sunni and Shia Muslims – the majority of the counrty’s population is Shia, while the ruling Khalifa family is Sunni. They are charged with “forming and directing a terrorist group aimed at overthrowing and changing the constitution of the state and the monarchy system,” the official news agency, BNA, said.

They are also accused of “having contact with a terrorist group abroad that operates in the interest of a foreign country by conducting hostile acts against the kingdom of Bahrain” and “raising funds for the terrorist group despite knowing” the nature of the organisation. …more