MANAMA (Dispatches) – Bahrain’s supreme court of appeals has upheld prison sentences against 10 Shia anti-regime activists as the ruling Al Khalifah regime presses ahead with its heavy clampdown on political dissidents and pro-democracy activists in the kingdom.
On Wednesday, the Court of Cassation found the defendants guilty of forming an espionage cell and affiliation to Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC). Iran denies supporting any bid to overthrow the Bahraini government.
The court condemned four of the convicts to life imprisonment and handed down 15-year jail terms to five others, and sentenced another defendant to 10 years in prison.
The top court also revoked the Bahraini citizenship of nine of the convicts, and ordered all to pay a total fine of 10,000 dinars ($26,522).
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 regime 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.
Meanwhile, a Bahraini Shia cleric and political activist warned of the Manama regime’s strategy to allow the Zionist regime to establish a foothold in the Arab country and the Persian Gulf region.
In an interview with Tasnim, Deputy Secretary-General of Bahrain’s Islamic Action Society (Al-Amal) Sheikh Abdullah Saleh slammed the Al Khalifa regime’s attempts to normalize ties with the regime as a way to maintain the throne in the Persian Gulf country.
The Bahraini regime is seeking to normalize ties with the regime and pave the way for Zionists’ presence in the region, just as they helped Britain enter the region decades ago, the cleric deplored.
He also denounced the Al Khalifa government’s move to found a Saudi-sponsored center, known as ‘King Hamad Global Centre for Inter-Faith Dialogue and Peaceful Co-Existence’, as a message for the US and Israel that they could take the next steps for normalization of ties with Zionists.