The Bahrain Forum for Human Rights said that a secret military court began on Thursday November 2, 2017 to try civilians, some of whom have been subjected to enforced disappearance for 13 months

The BFHR stressed that the serious human rights violations against detainees under trial in the military judiciary foreshadow the course of the upcoming judicial disaster in the cases of freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, as a result of the use of certain articles in the Military Judiciary Law to commit abuses in violation of the International Bill Of human rights.

The BFHR pointed out that the victims attended on Thursday the third session in the military judiciary with skinny bodies as a result of being subjected to severe torture and degrading treatment and being placed in solitary confinement. The BFHR noted that this is the first military trial of civilians since the issuance of the new law amending the Military Judiciary Law, and the detainees were referred to the military judiciary on October 23, 2017.

The BFHR also pointed out that there were several violations of Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – that is concerned with the guarantees of fair trials – and the violations are the following: the confidentiality of court hearings, the confidentiality of information circulation, the court's refusal of the lawyers’ request to receive the case file, and preventing the defendants from talking before the court about the torture they were subjected to during and after interrogation.

The BFHR further noted that four detainees are placed in solitary confinement, two of whom have been there for 13 months, which violates the basic principles of the treatment of prisoners. The BFHR added that the court's refusal to present the defendants to a forensic doctor contravenes the Bahraini Code of Criminal Procedure.

The BFHR stressed that the confidentiality of the trial and the confidentiality of the circulation of information therein were intended to enable military courts to violate the right to a fair trial before all courts.