Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The Swiss government Friday morning called for Bahrein to end the death penalty, which it has rarely invoked, and to review the four sentences passed in the wake of anti-government protests.
Switzerland is opposed to the death penalty and has been fighting for its universal abolition but the Federal Council notes in its 6 May statement that it is particularly disturbed that Bahrein has just sentenced to death four protesters.
Close of Olympic Games for doping
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne has stripped Rashid Ramzi from Bahrein of his gold medal. He won the men’s 1,500 metre race in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Italian Davide Rebellin, who placed second in the men’s road cycle event, will have to return his silver medal, the IOC announced. The world governing body for the Olympic Games sanctioned three other athletes who participated in the Beijing Olympics for using the banned hormone CERA, 18 November.
The IOC’s zero-tolerance policy in the use of endurance or performance-enhancing drugs means that it will store blood and urine samples taken during the Games for eight years so that the laboratories can do retroactive testing.
