Al Khalifa Court Sentences 5 Bahrainis to Life Imprisonment
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A court in Bahrain has sentenced five Bahrainis to life imprisonment over alleged involvement in carrying attacks across the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom.
Al Khalifa's Public Prosecutor Ahmed al-Hammadi claimed that the five were sentenced to life sentence over suspected links with Iran, AFP reported on Thursday.
According to the prosecutor in the case, at least two of the convicts had allegedly been conspiring attacks on banks and public buildings, while the others provided financial and logistical support to such acts.
The Bahraini judiciary has come under fire by many human rights groups for handing down long-term sentences to anti-regime protesters and activists in the country.
In March 2015, Bahrain witnessed 272 arrests on political grounds, which was the highest number in the 12-month period, the report said.
Bahrain, a close ally of the US in the Persian Gulf region, has been witnessing almost daily protests against the ruling Al Khalifa dynasty since early 2011, with Manama using heavy-handed measures in an attempt to crush the demonstrations.
Scores of Bahrainis have been killed and hundreds of others injured and arrested in the ongoing crackdown on the peaceful demonstrations.
Bahraini opposition groups have unanimously called for the release of all the jailed political dissidents, stressing that only a political solution, and not the use of force, would end the political crisis in the Persian Gulf state.
