A new report has found that the usage of the death penalty has dramatic escalated since the 2011 Arab Spring uprising.
According to a joint report published on Tuesday (13 July) by anti-death penalty and human rights group Reprieve and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) death sentences in the small Gulf archipelago have risen by more than 600 percent with at least 51 people ordered executed since the anime government protests erupted in 2011.
Some 88 percent of men executed in Bahrain since 2011 were convicted of “terror” charges, and 100 percent of these individuals alleged torture, the report found.
Seven people were sentenced to death in the previous decade, the report found.
Today, some 26 men are facing imminent execution on death row, 11 of whom allege torture by Bahraini authorities.
Commenting on the report, Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, the director of BIRD, said: “Sentencing torture survivors to death for their opposition to the government is a heinous act of revenge by Bahrain’s regime.
“For those facing imminent execution, the uncertainty of knowing they could be executed at any time is causing an unspeakable strain on their lives and those of their families.”
Source: Al Jazeera
