Oct. 25
BAHRAIN:
Bahrain may reintroduce death penalty
Bahrain may reintroduce death penalty, if the Chamber of Deputies passes a
draft law on anti-terror measures.
The Chamber is keen on passing the bill and is to hold a discussion as
early as possible in this regard.
The bill also calls for stricter punishments for acts of terrorism, such
as a life sentence or a jail term of not less than 10 years, local daily
Bahrain Tribune said yesterday in an exclusive report.
Facing the capital punishment, as per the draft law, will be those
individuals who call for anti-constitutional measures or whose actions
would cause harm to people or result in hindering public organisations
from performing their duties.
According to the report, those smuggling into the kingdom or planting on
the sea or land any material that might endanger people, animal life or
the environment as well as those who deliberately cause damage to
airports, seaports or any other public property, may face the life
sentence.
Those offering training on the use of weapons or explosives, may face a
ten-year jail term.
The draft law also forbids the use of religion, public places, places of
worship, and religious or traditional occasions to promote hatred.
While the Chamber is keen on discussing the draft law and pass it, the
head of its committee on law and legislation, Yusuf Zainal, feels that
there is no need to for the bill since the country is already a signatory
to many anti-terrorism treaties.
"The draft law is aimed at controlling individual freedoms and political
activity as it gives more power to the government over political
societies," deputy Zainal stressed.
He highlighted that if the government wants to update the criminal law, it
could amend it, he said indicating that there was no need for the draft
law.
Yusuf Zainal also explained that most of the articles in the bill covered
punishments for various criminal acts rather than terrorist activities.
On the other hand, the government maintains that the bill is important to
maintain social stability and security, particularly because the kingdoms
criminal law does not include any article to tackle terrorism.
(source: Khaleej Times)
