Bahrain court gives life sentence to nearly dozen dissidents

A court in Bahrain has sentenced 10 anti-regime protesters to life imprisonment and revoked their citizenship as the ruling Al Khalifah regime presses ahead with its heavy-handed clampdown on political dissidents and pro-democracy campaigners in the Persian Gulf kingdom.

On Wednesday, the High Criminal Court found the defendants guilty over the discovery of 1.5 tons of ammunition and explosive devices in Nuwaidrat village, located about 10 kilometers (six miles) south of the capital Manama, in late September 2015, Arabic-language Lualua television network reported.

The court also gave a jail term of 10 years to another defendant over the case, and ordered the first three convicts to pay a fine of 300,000 dinars ($797,872).

The first convict was Sayed Morteza al-Sanadi, the head of the Bahrain's opposition al-Wafa'a Islamic Party, whom military courts sentenced to death along with five others the previous day.

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 dynasty relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established.

Manama has gone to great lengths to clamp down on any sign of dissent. On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to assist Bahrain in its crackdown.

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

On March 5, Bahrain’s parliament approved the trial of civilians at military tribunals in a measure blasted by human rights campaigners as being tantamount to imposition of an undeclared martial law countrywide.

Bahraini monarch King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah ratified the constitutional amendment on April 3.

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