HRW decries coerced Bahrain testimony

MANAMA, Bahrain, March 23 (UPI) -- Using televised, coerced testimony and other flaws in the trial of a Bahraini opposition leader shows contempt for the right to a fair trial, advocates say.

Testimony coerced from Hassan Mushaima, leader of the Bahrain political opposition group Haq, and 34 others should be thrown out of court, Human Rights Watch said Monday.

In a statement, the group said state-controlled television in December showed young opposition activists who had been held incommunicado for weeks "confessing" to committing violence at a Haq rally. The testimony was subsequently used as evidence against Mushaima and others in trials that began in February and resume Tuesday in Manama.

"The televised statements of young activists detained without access to lawyers smacks of coercion and should be tossed out of the courtroom," said Joe Stork, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa division at Human Rights Watch. "Their use makes a mockery of government claims of providing Haq members a fair trial."