Bahrain court upholds death sentences for Shia activists

Bahrain’s Supreme Court on Monday upheld death sentences for two Shia activists and jail terms for dozens of others on terror-related charges and links to Iran, state media reported.

Bahrain’s Supreme Court on Monday upheld death sentences for two Shia activists and jail terms for dozens of others on terror-related charges and links to Iran, state media reported.

The court, whose rulings are final, also stripped 47 of the defendants of their Bahraini citizenship, said the BNA news agency, citing an official statement.

The court upheld life terms for 19 convicts and sentenced 37 others to between five and 15 years in jail, the statement said.

The men were charged of forming a “terror cell” that carried out a number of attacks, killing at least two policemen and wounding several others.

They were also convicted of smuggling weapons by boat, attacking a prison and helping a number of inmates flee, and undergoing military training in Iraq and Iran.

Thirty-six of those convicted, including the two sentenced to death, are being held in jail while the rest were sentenced in absentia.