Bahrain Executes Three Individuals on Bombing Charges

Bahraini officials executed three Shia citizens of the country on Sunday, January 26, on charges of bombing. According to the Associated Press, the executions occurred amid protests from hundreds of demonstrators against the death sentences, who took to the streets in Shia-majority villages starting Saturday, blocking roads and throwing Molotov cocktails at police. The executed individuals, named Abbas al-Sami, Sami Meshimah, and Ali al-Sankis, were accused by a Bahraini court of causing the deaths of two Bahraini police officers and an Emirati officer in a bombing in 2014. A group called 'Ashtar Brigade', a Shia armed group, claimed responsibility for the bombing, which has been linked to 20 bombings in Bahrain since 2013. The court also charged the three with 'inciting violent protests' and 'creating sectarian discord between Sunni and Shia in Bahrain'. This marks the first execution in Bahrain in six years since the onset of Shia protests against the government. The executions have drawn severe criticism from various human rights organizations, with Maya Foa, director of the London-based human rights group 'Reprieve', describing the act as a 'shameful violation of international law'. Bahraini activists claim that the authorities extracted confessions from the three under torture, a concern echoed by Foa. Nicholas McGeehan, a member of the Bahrain branch of Human Rights Watch, called the executions 'provocative and unjust' and urged Bahrain's allied countries to 'publicly and explicitly condemn these killings'. During the Arab Spring in 2011, Bahrain faced internal unrest from its Shia majority and used support from Gulf Arab states to suppress dissent. Bahrain has repeatedly claimed that Iran's Revolutionary Guard intervenes in the island and has prosecuted dozens for alleged collaboration with the Guard; however, Ayatollah Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, has denied these accusations. In this context, Bahraini police surrounded the home of the country's Shia leader. A Bahraini court confirmed death sentences and life imprisonment for ten individuals accused of bombing. Bahrain has made accusations against Iran; opponents have accused the Bahraini government. Bahrain linked the explosives used in Tuesday's bombing to Iran.