MANAMA (Dispatches) – Three minors were among the twenty one anti-regime protestors who received prison terms from Bahraini courts as the Al Khalifah regime continues its draconian crackdown in the small Persian Gulf nation.
The courts sentenced the dissidents to prison terms ranging from three years to life, according to the Arabic-language Lua Lua television network.
According to the report, nine additional defendants were each handed 10 years in prison while seven were given life sentences in absentia. Three youngsters each sentenced three years in prison, and two young dissidents received five years.
All of the defendants were accused of creating a “terror” cell after being convicted of trumped-up terror-related charges.
Pro-democracy campaigners scoffed at the rulings passed against the three minors, stating that they have been deprived of their most basic rights in the notorious prisons of Bahrain. They also warned against their exposition to various forms of harsh mental and physical torture.
Meanwhile, protesters took to the streets in Bahrain to show solidarity with political prisoners, and demand their immediate and unconditional release.
The protesters staged rallies in the villages of Abu Saiba, Shakhura and Dumistan to denounce Bahraini authorities’ mistreatment of jailed activists and their miserable conditions at detention centers.
The demonstrators held up pictures of prisoners of conscience being kept behind bars in crowded jails, and demanded their freedom.
Demonstrations have been held in Bahrain on a regular basis since a popular uprising began in the Arab country in mid-February 2011.
People demand that the Al Khalifah regime relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established.
Manama, however, has gone to great lengths to clamp down on any form of dissent.