Jidhaf protesters assaulted by Security Forces while demanding release of political prisoners

Bahrain: Police suppress protesters demanding the release of political prisoners
2 May 2012 – blottR

Extensive use of shotguns against protesters at Jidhaf Protest 02 May

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Jidhaf on Wednesday to demand the release of political prisoners, activists say.

Protesters chanted anti-regime slogans and were seen holding banners with the pictures of several political prisoners including al-Khawaja who has now been on hunger strike for more than 80 days.

Police forces fired a large amount of tear gas at protesters to disperse the crowd.

Twenty-one opposition activists, including hunger striker Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, are to be retried after a Court of Cassation accepted their appeal, Al-Jazeera reported on Monday.

The group of men was imprisoned over their involvement in the Gulf kingdom’s uprising last year. They face charges which include “forming a terrorist group with intent to overturn the system of government.”

“The court is [ordering] that the trial take place again and that testimony from prosecution and defence witnesses be heard once more as if it is a new trial,” BNA, the country’s official news agency, said.

Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who has been on hunger strike for more than 80 days, was condemned to a life sentence over his participation in last year’s uprising. The founder of the Bahrain Centre for Human rights protests his detention and has vowed to continue his hunger strike until he is released. …more