Bahrain has executed three people convicted in two separate cases, one a case of “terrorism” and killing a police officer, and the second related to the killing of a mosque imam, the public prosecutor has said.
Human rights groups had been warning against the execution of two men, Ali Mohamed Hakeem al-Arab and Ahmed Isa al-Malali.
The two men, who were arrested separately in February 2017, were convicted in January 2018 in a mass trial involving some 60 people. Both were allegedly subjected to torture, as well as prevented from attending their trial and sentenced to death in absentia.
The executions came hours after Agnes Callamard, the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, appealed to Bahrain’s government to stop the executions of al-Arab and al-Malali.
“The authorities in Bahrain must immediately halt any plans to execute these men, annul the death sentences against them and ensure they are retried in accordance with international law and standards,” Callamard said in a statement on Friday.