Iran Deplores Execution of Bahraini Protesters

In a statement on Saturday, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi bemoaned reports of the Manama regime’s use of torture for confession under duress and the unfair trial of the executed protesters, and the fact the even international calls did not convince Bahrain to halt the executions.

“The Bahraini government’s sectarian measure to execute the protesters reveals that it still insists on its wrong policy of suppression of protesters instead of choosing the path of rationality and trying to resolve the self-inflicted crisis through reconciliation with the people,” he added.

The spokesman also highlighted the documented evidence for and the Bahraini government’s record in employing extremist groups and the terrorist members of al-Qaeda for eliminating opposition figures.

“Execution of protesters on various pretexts is a continuation of the same previous approach, with the difference being that this time, the government has personally undertaken to carry out the policy of elimination of protesters instead of cooperating with terrorist groups,” Mousavi said.

“Intensification of security-policing approaches would not help settle the crisis in Bahrain,” he stated.

Bahrain this week executed three people convicted in two separate cases. Human rights groups had been warning against the execution of two men, Ali Mohamed Hakeem al-Arab and Ahmed Isa Ahmed Isa al-Malali.

Malali and Arab were convicted in a mass trial involving 60 people in January 2018. Both had exhausted all possible judicial appeals.

A last-minute appeal to stop their imminent execution was also issued by the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, Agnès Callamard, who has said in a statement the men were allegedly tortured, prevented from attending their trial and sentenced to death in absentia.