The case involving two Bahrainis sentenced to death took a major turn on Monday with the country’s Justice Minister filing the Court of Cassation a plea to review the ruling.
This request is a precedent in for Bahrain’s judiciary, a legal right reserved for the Justice Minister and guaranteed by Bahraini law. However, this marks the first time a justice minister acts upon that right to overturn a death penalty.
Minister of Justice Sheikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa said that after examining the proposal submitted by the Special Investigation Unit, it was decided to apply for revision of the judgment passed.
Law provisions of the Court of Cassation, allows the justice minister to request review of the final sentences in certain cases. The SIU was notified about the findings and it launched a new investigation that uncovered new documents that had not been presented to the court.
The two Bahrainis were sentenced to death for the alleged murder of a policeman and the attempted murder of other policemen by a terrorist bombing.
In March, the SIU confirmed possessing medical reports which were not presented at any of the hearing sessions and filed for retrying the defendants.
The SIU said that, given the new documents and for the sake of full justice, it asked the justice minister to ask the Court of Cassation to reconsider its verdict.
Unpresented documents and evidence require that the Attorney General revokes previous sentences and commits to retrial.
Minister Khalifa pointed out that filing for retrial speaks to the right to justice, which calls for exhausting all legal means, to the fullest extent possible, in order for truth to prevail.
“Such an application is made under the authority vested in the Minister of Justice to ensure that justice is served after exhausting all legal avenues to the maximum possible for the sake of truth,” Shaikh Khalid said in his statement.
“The Court of Cassation has absolute discretion, based on the investigation carried out by the Special Investigation Unit and on the new documents which were filed as evidence in the case.”
