Bahrain regime cuts arbitrary prison sentences for illegally detained to placate its Western Partner demands to improve Human Rights Crisis

Bahrain court cuts jail terms for attack
AFP/Manama – 8 August, 2012

A Bahraini court yesterday cut jail sentences against 11 people convicted of attacking a soldier and acquitted four others, a lawyer said.

The appeals court reduced the main charge against 15 defendants from attempted murder to “physical attack” on the soldier, while charges of taking part in illegal assemblies and rioting during a month of Shia-led protests last year remained unchanged.

Five of the defendants had their sentences reduced to two years. The sentences against two other defendants were dropped to one year and six months respectively, the lawyer said requesting anonymity.
The 16th defendant lost his right to appeal for remaining at large, he said.

Bahrain’s interior ministry says more than 700 people, including some police officers, have been injured in the protests since the beginning of the year.

Sporadic demonstrations have intensified since a March 2011 crackdown ended month-long protests in Pearl Square demanding democratic reforms.

Meanwhile, the kingdom’s prosecution referred two adolescents to a juveniles centre after charging them with burning tyres to block a street in a Shia village.

Protesters from the Shia community tend to block main roads in their villages outside Manama with burning tyres and garbage containers.

“The prosecution questioned three defendants, including two adolescents, over burning tyres on a main road,” said Nawaf al-Awadi, the public prosecutor in the Northern Province, in a statement. …more