Bahraini courts give prison sentences to dozen anti-regime activists

Courts in Bahrain have handed down prison sentences to at least 12 protesters as the ruling Al Khalifah regime presses ahead with its heavy clampdown on political dissidents and pro-democracy activists in the kingdom.

Courts in Bahrain have handed down prison sentences to at least 12 protesters as the ruling Al Khalifah regime presses ahead with its heavy clampdown on political dissidents and pro-democracy activists in the kingdom.

Bahrain’s Fourth High Criminal Court sentenced three of the defendants to five years in jail, while four others received three years in prison, Arabic-language Bahrain Mirror news website reported. 

The court found the anti-regime activists guilty of “assaulting police officers, setting fire to a police patrol car and illegal gathering” in the small village of Abu Quwah.

They were also ordered to pay a fine of 378 dinars ($1,000) for the damage of the police patrol car owned by the Ministry of the Interior.

The same court also upheld a three-year prison sentence against a political dissident on alleged charges of making a fake bomb threat in Tubli village.

Separately, Bahrain’s Supreme Criminal Court sentenced two defendants to three years in prison after convicting them of insulting and attacking a policeman and a lieutenant at Dry Dock detention center.