Regional press weighs in on imprisonment of Bahrain Pro-Democracy leadership
Bahrain jails more Shiite opposition
Wednesday, October 5, 2011 – DUBAI – Hurriyet Daily News
Bahrain on Tuesday sentenced 14 members of a Shi’ite opposition party, including its chairman, to up to 10 years in jail for calling for forcible regime change during Shi’ite-led pro-democracy protests this year, state news agency BNA said.
In two separate cases, nine Shi’ites were sentenced to 15 years in prison and four to 10 years for allegedly kidnapping two policemen, by the National Safety Court, set up specially by the Sunni-ruled kingdom after Shiite-led pro-reform protests were crushed in March.
The nine had used “force against [the policemen] and threatened him with serious harm,” said the prosecutor, Colonel Yusof Fleifal, as quoted by the official BNA news agency.
The verdicts handed out by a military court are the latest in a series of lengthy sentences imposed since June on opposition figures and protesters involved in an uprising in February and March for reforms in the Sunni-ruled monarchy. Bahrain quashed the protests in March, helped by troops from its Sunni neighbors Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Six members of Bahrain’s Islamic Action Society, or Amal, six members received 10-year jail terms and eight were given five-year terms after being convicted of organizing illegal protests, broadcasting false news and rumors, and transmitting pictures abroad which harmed Bahrain’s reputation, BNA said. Nine members of the Shi’ite group were acquitted. Amal chairman Sheikh Mohammed al-Mahfoodh, who was arrested with other party members in May, was tortured and held in solitary confinement for 45 days, his daughter said.
In April, the government said it would dissolve Amal and the main Shi’ite opposition group Wefaq, but held off after public criticism from the United States. The verdicts were issued a day after 36 other Shiites were jailed up to 25 years in cases related to the month-long protest which was quashed in mid-March and followed by a wave of arrests of Shiites.
Bahrain on Tuesday sentenced 14 members of a Shi’ite opposition party, including its chairman, to up to 10 years in jail for calling for forcible regime change during Shi’ite-led pro-democracy protests this year, state news agency BNA said. Bahrain has now handed down prison sentences to almost 80 opposition members.
In two separate cases, nine Shi’ites were sentenced to 15 years in prison and four to 10 years for allegedly kidnapping two policemen, by the National Safety Court, set up specially by the Sunni-ruled kingdom after Shiite-led pro-reform protests were crushed in March.
The nine had used “force against [the policemen] and threatened him with serious harm,” said the prosecutor, Colonel Yusof Fleifal, as quoted by the official BNA news agency. The verdicts handed out by a military court are the latest in a series of lengthy sentences imposed since June on opposition figures and protesters involved in an uprising in February and March for reforms in the Sunni-ruled monarchy. Bahrain quashed the protests in March, helped by troops from its Sunni neighbors Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Six members of Bahrain’s Islamic Action Society, or Amal, six members received 10-year jail terms and eight were given five-year terms after being convicted of organizing illegal protests, broadcasting false news and rumors, and transmitting pictures abroad which harmed Bahrain’s reputation, BNA said. Nine members of the Shi’ite group were acquitted. Amal chairman Sheikh Mohammed al-Mahfoodh, who was arrested with other party members in May, was tortured and held in solitary confinement for 45 days, his daughter said.
In April, the government said it would dissolve Amal and the main Shi’ite opposition group Wefaq, but held off after public criticism from the U.S. The verdicts were issued a day after 36 other Shiites were jailed up to 25 years in cases related to the month-long protest.
Compiled from AFP and Reuters stories by the Daily News staff. …source
