The Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Together Against the Death Penalty, SALAM for Democracy and Human Rights, Human Rights Defenders, and the Global Coalition Against the Death Penalty have issued a public appeal to the Government of Bahrain to vote in favour of a UN General Assembly resolution on a global moratorium on the death penalty next week.
It is scheduled to consider the General Assembly of the United Nations plenary session next week on a draft resolution on a moratorium on the use of the death penalty. Whereas if the resolution is adopted, it will become the ninth resolution issued by this body calling on the Member States of the United Nations to halt executions to abolish the death penalty.
A joint statement by the organizations said that there are at least 27 people awaiting execution in Bahrain, and almost all of them are at imminent risk of execution, only awaiting the approval of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.
Human rights groups and bodies maintain that unfair trials and trials in which torture and coercion occurred have led to the wrongful imposition of the death penalty in at least eight cases.
While dozens of legal rulings provide for the death penalty in Bahrain, it will now be in Bahrain’s interest to show leadership and vote in favour of the decision.
On eight occasions since 2007, when the United Nations General Assembly debated and voted to suspend the implementation of the death penalty, the Government of Bahrain has abstained on half of these occasions (2008, 2010, 2014, 2016).
For seven years, between 2011-2017, the Government of Bahrain maintained a de facto moratorium on carrying out the death penalty. As a result, over the past three years, no executions have occurred.
Human rights organizations emphasized that voting in favour of the resolution would be consistent with the situation in Bahrain while abstaining from the vote is the least the government should do.
The signatories to the appeal called on the government of Bahrain to vote in favour of a resolution to a moratorium on the use of the death penalty in mid-December 2022 at the United Nations General Assembly.
