Families of death row inmates in Bahrain appealed to Pope Francis on Monday to speak out against capital punishment and defend political prisoners during his trip to the Gulf state this week.
The families made their appeal in an open letter released by the London-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), which called on the pope to speak out on what the group says are human rights abuses, including the imprisonment of pro-democracy dissidents, during his Nov. 3-6 trip.
