Bahrain Courts of Injustice Reduce Sentence for Police Guilty of Torture and Murder, of Publicist

Bahrain cuts jail terms of two policemen who tortured protester to death
27 October, 2013 – Al Akhbar

Bahrain’s appeals court on Sunday cut the jail terms of two policemen convicted of torturing to death a protester after a 2011 crackdown on anti-government demonstrations, a judicial source said.

The court reduced the terms of the men from seven years to three after a lower court had convicted them in December over Abdul Karim Fakhrawi’s killing in custody in April 2011.

Fakhrawi was a publisher and had co-founded Al-Wasat daily, which the authorities closed following the crackdown on protests over two years ago.

A number of policemen are facing trials over claims of killing protesters or torturing detainees after a wave of arrests that targeted members of the Shiite majority.

On Monday, a court in US-backed kingdom decreased the jail term of a policeman convicted of shooting dead a protester in February 2011 from seven years to three.

The authorities say they are implementing the recommendations of an independent commission of inquiry that confirmed allegations the security forces had used excessive force during the uprising.

At least 89 people have been killed by police since the protests began two and a half years ago, according to the International Federation for Human Rights. …more