MANAMA (Dispatches) – A dozen Bahraini pro-democracy campaigners have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to five years over their alleged involvement in acts of violence and participation in anti-regime demonstrations.
Bahrain's Supreme Court of Appeal upheld the prison term of five years against seven defendants on charges of illegal gathering, setting tires alight along the streets and hurling petrol bombs at armored police vehicles in Manama’s suburban neighborhood of Juffair on August 2, 2013, Arabic-language Bahrain Mirror news website reported.
The court also ordered each of the convicts to pay 300 dinars ($795) for the damage caused by burning tires.
Five other defendants were each sentenced to three years in prison over forming "unlawful” gatherings of more than five people.
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.
In a latest development, Bahraini people have staged fresh protests across the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom in solidarity with Sheikh Isa Qassim and his supporters.
Protesters, carrying candles, took to the streets of the northern villages Abu Saiba and Shakhoura on Sunday night to commemorate Sheikh Qassim's supporters of who lost their lives during a raid last month.
Five people were killed and dozens other injured when regime forces attacked Sheikh Qassim’s supporters in the northwestern village of Diraz. The clergyman’s fate remains unknown, with some reports saying he is under house arrest.
The scuffles came two days after Sheikh Qassim was handed a suspended one-year prison term and ordered to pay a fine over accusations that he had used his position to serve foreign interests and promote sectarianism and violence.