E/CN.4/2002/77/Add.2 page 21 Working Group, while noting that conditions of detention in Bahraini prisons are satisfactory overall, reminds the authorities that under international law anyone below 18 years of age is considered a minor, and that under the Beijing Rules minors aged 18, even when criminally liable, must be tried by a special court which seeks to safeguard their best interests and takes account of their age by applying specially developed standards. Their segregation from adults is a requirement of the United Nations Rules for the Protection of Juveniles Deprived of their Liberty (1990). 7. Administration of justice in the army and the police force 73. Under article 102 (b) of the Constitution, civilians are not subject to the jurisdiction of courts martial: “The jurisdiction of courts martial shall be restricted to military crimes committed by members of the armed and security forces and shall not extend to others except during the time of martial law within the limits determined by the law.” This rule has never been violated, as was confirmed by everyone the delegation spoke to. Since the dissolution of the State Security Court and the repeal of the emergency legislation, civilians may be tried only by courts of general jurisdiction applying the rules of ordinary law. Special courts have been established by law to try members of the security forces and the military who have committed military offences. For military personnel, this is the Court Martial established by a law of 1968, and for police officers, prison warders, and all members of the security services under the authority of the Ministry of the Interior, the Disciplinary Tribunal established under Legislative Decree No. 3 of 1982. The officers of these courts are drawn exclusively from military personnel or police officers. 74. Under police regulations, police officers are considered to be military personnel and the military offences listed in the Code of Military Procedure are applicable to them. Article 81 of Legislative Decree No. 3 categorizes as military offences those committed by members of the security services at their workplace or in barracks, when on duty, when in uniform, or in the course of an assignment connected with their duties. The same article specifies that where civilians are implicated in the commission of such offences, only civilian courts are competent to try civilians and police officers together. Where military personnel are involved, the proceedings are separated and only the civilians are sent for trial by the competent civilian court. 75. The judgements of these courts are not subject to review by the Court of Cassation, the only admissible remedy being an administrative appeal which the convicted person may address, as appropriate, to the Minister of the Interior or the Minister of Defence. The minister���s powers are unlimited and discretionary. He may uphold the judgement, reduce the penalty, overturn the judgement without ordering a retrial, or refer the case back to the same court for trial by a different judge. Thus, someone convicted by the court for a serious offence may simply be pardoned by the minister, and the aggrieved party or his heirs and creditors can do nothing about it. The law does not say whether a ministerial pardon is a bar to a civil action, which would fall within the jurisdiction of the ordinary courts.