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Your support makes all the difference.Rights activists convicted of trying to overthrow the state claimed yesterday that they were forced to sign confessions
As a civilian court in Bahrain began a full review of their trials carried out under martial law, a defence lawyer said that the activists had also faced abuse in custody
The group includes Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who has been on hunger strike for three months and did not attend the session.
The appeals seek to overturn the sentences. But they are also challenging the credibility of a now-disbanded military-led court created as part of the crackdown against the nearly 15-month-old uprising against the monarchy.
Last month a court ordered a full re-examination – effectively a retrial – of the cases against Mr Khawaja and 20 other mostly Shia activists found guilty last year of plots to overthrow the kingdom's Western-allied Sunni dynasty.
Mr Khawaja and seven others were sentenced to life in prison and the others received lesser prison terms. Seven were sentenced in absentia.
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