Bahrain jails five for attacking police

A court in Bahrain has sentenced five people to up to 15 years in jail over their alleged role in an attack on police forces in the Persian Gulf Arab kingdom.

According to the reports, Ahmed al-Hammadi, a Bahraini prosecutor, said in a statement on Monday that the high criminal court sentenced three people to 15 years each after convicting them of setting a police vehicle on fire.

The defendants were also collectively fined more than 17,000 dinars (USD 45,000), Hammadi added.

No casualties were reported in the attack that took place in August last year.

In another case, the court also jailed two defendants, one for three years and the other for 10, after convicting them of rioting and throwing rocks at police. The attack which took place last April wounded two policemen.

Last week, Bahraini authorities gave a one-year prison sentence to activist Ibrahim Sharif, the head of the country’s largest leftist political party. He was accused of inciting hatred against the ruling Aal-e Khalifah regime.

SS