Bahrain courts give life sentence to two anti-regime activists
Regime controlled courts in Bahrain have sentenced two anti-regime protesters to life imprisonment and handed down prison sentences to four others as the ruling Aal-e Khalifah family presses ahead with its heavy-handed clampdown on political dissidents and pro-democracy campaigners in the tiny Persian Gulf island State.
On Thursday, Bahraini judiciary officials sentenced two defendants to life in prison after finding them guilty of “unlawful gathering and targeting a police patrol car with an explosive device in the village of Nuwaidrat.”
Separately, four defendants were sentenced to three years in jail each over political activities against the governing Al Khalifah regime.
Top Shia cleric’s pretrial detention renewed for another 15 days
In another development, distinguished Shia cleric Sheikh Khalid Fadhil al-Zaki, whom regime forces arrested late last month, has been remanded in custody for another 15 days, pending investigations.
Aal-e Khailfa forces detained Sheikh Zaki along with four young men, identified as Ahmed Abdullah al-Zaki, Reza al-Houri, Abbas Muhammed Jaafar al-Zaki and Sayed Hussein Hashim during raids on their homes in the northern villages of Abu Saiba and Shakhura early on November 30.
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.
They are demanding that the Al Khalifah regime relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established.
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