Proceedings were halted Thursday after nearly all the court-appointed defense attorneys dropped out because the suspects have rejected them.
The court was forced to seek new defense lawyers when the original legal team quit last month. They complain that officials did not properly investigate claims of torture against the detainees.
The suspects are accused of trying to undermine the government of the island kingdom, which hosts the headquarters of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet. The next hearing is scheduled for Jan. 13.
The court appointed 23 new lawyers in December after the then defense team pulled out of the case, citing difficulties in carrying out their jobs.
The 25 activists, including two who are being tried in absentia, are accused of forming an illegal organization, engaging in and financing terrorism and spreading false and misleading information, according to the indictment.
Some of the accusations carry a sentence of life in prison, one of the lawyers has said.
At the opening hearing on Oct. 28, the 23 defendants appeared in court and pleaded not guilty, and alleged that they had been tortured.
The court declined to probe those claims, but a government statement the same day said a “senior forensic science consultant” had examined 13 defendants and concluded they had not been tortured.
One of the lawyers, Mohammed Al-Tajer said in December that the defense team had renewed calls for an investigation at the second hearing on Nov. 11.
He also said “certain decisions of the court, including the transfer of the defendants from a state security prison to an ordinary one, have not been implemented.”
In the 1990s, Bahrain was plagued by a wave of opposition-led unrest that has abated since 2001 reforms restored the Gulf state’s elected parliament, which was dissolved in 1975, and turned the emirate into a constitutional monarchy.
