Bahrain continues draconian jail terms in effort to brutalise Democracy Movement

Bahrain upholds draconian jail terms for 17 activists
19 November, 2013 – Al Akhbar

A Bahrain appeals court has upheld jail terms of up to 15 years for 17 protest activists accused of attacks on police in the unrest-hit country, a judicial source said Tuesday.

The Manama court, which delivered the verdicts on Monday, also reduced by seven years sentences for three other defendants in the same case, the source said.

The group of activists were tried on charges of attempting to murder police, carrying out arson attacks on their vehicles, causing public disturbance and possessing Molotov cocktails.

Bahrain’s regime-affiliated courts have handed draconian sentences to dozens of protest activists in recent weeks on terrorism-related charges, with authorities using torture to force confessions, according to rights groups.

Since September 29, a total of 138 activists and protest leaders have been sentenced to prison terms of up to life, after dictator Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in August ordered that dissidents face stiffer penalties.

At least 89 people have been killed at the hands of police since a mostly-peaceful anti-government rebellion began in February 2011, according to the International Federation for Human Rights.

But the deadly crackdown has failed to quell the almost daily demonstrations in villages across the US-backed kingdom.

…source