Sheikh Salman Jail Sentence Cut Aimed at Reducing Int’l Pressure on Bahrain: Cleric

In an interview with the Tasnim News Agency, Sheikh Mohammad Hassan Khojasteh pointed to a recent verdict issued by Bahrain’s Court of Cassation to cancel the nine-year ruling issued earlier by another court, saying that the previous ruling was to the detriment of the Al Khalifa regime and had brought enormous pressure on it.

By commuting the prison sentence of Sheikh Ali Salman from 9 years to 4 years, the Manama regime is seeking to tell the world that it has an independent judicial system, the cleric said.

He went to say that by such a decision, the Bahraini rulers are also seeking to calm down the public inside Bahrain.

Sheikh Salman, who has been in prison since 2014, was now given a two-year prison term on the charge of breaking the law and inciting hatred, and another two years on a charge of insulting the Ministry of the Interior, according to one of Sheikh Salman’s defense attorneys, Abdullah al-Shamlavi.

The court annulled Sheikh Salman’s five-year sentence that had been handed down to him by the Court of Appeals for allegedly conducting activities aimed at “regime change,” he explained.

Sheikh Salman was arrested in late December 2014 over alleged anti-regime incitements. Manama accused him of seeking regime change and collaborating with foreign powers.

Bahrain, a staunch ally of the United States 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.