Bahrain court sentences 6 people to life in jail

Bahrain has sentenced six people to life in prison over alleged terror acts as the Al Khalifah regime presses ahead with its heavy-handed crackdown on pro-democracy campaigners in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom.

Bahrain’s High Criminal Court on Sunday issued the verdicts against the suspects over the alleged charges of “attempted murder, carrying out a blast, using explosives and possessing ammunition without authorization for terror purposes, illegal gathering and rioting.”

According to Chief Prosecutor of the Terror Crimes Prosecution, Mishaal al-Mannai, three other suspects stood trial over the same charges, of whom one defendant received three years sentence in prison and the remaining two were acquitted.

The suspects, however, can challenge the court ruling at the country’s High Court of Appeals and might also protest against the verdict of the Court of Appeals at the Court of Cassation.

Meanwhile, the kingdom’s Ministry of Interior announced in a statement carried by Bahrain's official BNA news agency that Lieutenant Hisham Hassan Mohammed al Hammadi, had been killed as the result of a “terrorist attack” in Bilad al-Qadim village in the vicinity of the capital Manama.

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The statement, however, did not say when he was killed, nor did it give further details regarding the circumstances surrounding his death.

On January 15, the Bahraini regime executed three anti-regime Shia activists over their alleged role in a 2014 bomb attack, amid widespread public anger over the controversial verdicts.

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Manama has given a heavy-handed security response to peaceful popular protests, which first began in early 2011. The clampdown has cost scores of lives. Later during the popular uprising, the regime called in Saudi and Emirati reinforcements to help it muffle dissent.

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