Bahrainis protest death sentences

Bahrainis protest death sentences
irishtimes.com – Last Updated: Friday, April 29, 2011, 19:46

Thousands of Bahraini Shi’ites gathered before a revered cleric today denounced death sentences given to protesters over anti-government rallies crushed last month in the US-allied Gulf kingdom.

The verdict, handed down by a military court yesterday to four men accused of killing two policemen in violent protests last month, could intensify sectarian tension in the Sunni Muslim-led state that hosts the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.

“It’s not true that they killed them,” said a man who identified himself only as Moussa, after praying at the mosque of Sheikh Issa Qassim, as a police helicopter circled overhead. “The government made it up just like a movie.”

He was referring to video footage that Bahraini authorities have circulated showing the two policemen smashed by a vehicle that sped through a crowd of protesters, some of whom appeared to then trample and kick the fallen men.

Police kept a tight grip on roads leading to the village where the mosque is located, turning back many vehicles.

The rulings were only the third time in over 30 years that a death sentence had been given to a Bahraini citizen. …more