Bahraini protesters clash with regime forces over court rulings

Dozens of Bahraini demonstrators have engaged in clashes with regime forces to express their strong opposition to death sentences and seven life terms handed down to a group of political dissidents.

The protesters took to the streets in the village of Eker, situated about 20 kilometers south of the capital, Manama, on Sunday night and threw Molotov cocktails and firecrackers at armored police vehicles. The marchers also set some tires on fire.

Earlier in the day, Bahrain’s Court of Cassation upheld three death sentences and seven life terms against 10 defendants after alleging that they had carried out a bomb attack west of Manama in March 2014, which killed an Emirati officer and two Bahraini policemen.

The same appeals court also adjourned to 12 December the trial of distinguished Shia cleric and opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman, the secretary general of the country’s dissolved main opposition bloc al-Wefaq National Islamic Society.

Bahrain’s Supreme Court of Appeal increased Salman’s jail term to nine years from the original four on May 30.

The cleric was arrested in December 2014 on charges of attempting to overthrow the Manama regime and collaborating with foreign powers.

Sheikh Salman denies the charges, saying he has been seeking reforms in the country through peaceful means.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has repeatedly called on the Manama regime to release the 51-year-old cleric.

Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the kingdom on February 14, 2011.

They are demanding that the Al Khalifah dynasty relinquish power and a just system representing all Bahrainis be established.

On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to Bahrain to assist the Manama government in its crackdown.

Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or got arrested as a result of Al Khalifah regime’s crackdown on anti-regime activists.

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