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Bahrain defends

use of death penalty

MANAMA: The information minister of Bahrain, where the first execution in two decades was carried out last month, has defended the use of the death penalty.

"The judiciary in Bahrain is an independent authority and no one has authority over its judgments," Information Minister Mohammad Ibrahim al-Mutawae said in remarks made to the Saudi daily al-Yaum and published in Bahraini newspapers on Saturday.

"The death penalty and other punishments are matters left to the courts' judgment and based on the nature and extent of the crime," he added.

Bahrain executed Isa Ahmad Hassan Qamber, who was found guilty of killing a policeman during anti-government political unrest, by firing squad on March 26.

The execution, Bahrain's first in two decades, sparked widespread protests in villages. The London-based human rights group Amnesty International charged that Qamber's trial "ignored internationally-accepted human rights standards".

Disturbances erupted in December 1994 among members of the majority Shi'ite Moslem community opposed to the Sunni-dominated government. At least 24 people have been killed in the unrest, which has included arson attacks.

Mutawae said he believed that acts of sabotage and violence were alien to the Gulf Arab state and that Bahrainis would "block terrorism's way".

Authorities said in March they would try violence and sabotage cases in the State Security Court to speed up rulings.-Reuter