International rights group, Amnesty, have launched an appeal for the leaders of Bahrain’s Teachers Association who face lengthy jail sentences after “forced confessions”.
Mahdi Abu Deeb has been in prison since his arrest in March 2011. Jalila Alsalman was released in September 2011 after being held for 5 months. Both were forced to sign confessions and have been accused of “inciting violence” and “attempting to bring down the regime”, despite a lack of credible evidence being produced in court.
On Sunday 21st October the final verdict in their cases will be held, with Abu Deeb facing up to 10 years in prison and Jalila Alsalman 3 years. The recent case against the medics shows that Bahrain is willing to lock away professionals who took part in protests against the Government, despite being guilty of no actual crimes.
BJDM urges you to visit the Amnesty website to sign their statement calling for the charges to be dropped. You can do that here: http://amnesty.org/en/appeals-for-action/JalilaAndMahdi
