Bahrain: Aal-e Khalifa jails seven dissidents, strips them of citizenship
Judicial authorities in Bahrain have sentenced seven political dissidents to jail and revoked their nationality as the ruling Aal-e Khalifah regime presses ahead with its heavy-handed clampdown on pro-democracy democracy campaigners in the Persian Gulf island State.
The Arabic-language Lualua television network reported that the officials found the defendants guilty of “joining a terrorist group” and involvement in the explosion of a crude oil pipeline in the northern village of Buri, located about 13 kilometers southwest of the capital Manama, last November.
The quintet was sentenced to life in prison over the blast, stripped of their citizenship, and ordered to pay 200,000 Bahraini dinars ($530,480) in fines.
Two other defendants were handed down ten-year and five-year jail terms respectively.
Lawyer Fatima al-Hawaj said the convicts have strongly dismissed the trumped-up charges leveled against them.
Of the seven defendants, three were tried in absentia. The other four were identified as 23-year-old Fadhel Ali, Anwar al-Mushaima, 24, Mohammed Mahrous, 27, and 23-year-old Adel Saleh.
Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the country in mid-February 2011.
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