Bahrain jails 57 Shiites on bomb plot charges

Bahraini Shiite Muslims chant slogans during a march in support of prominent jailed opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman after mid-day prayers Friday, June 12, 2015, in Diraz, Bahrain. AP

DUBAI // A court in Bahrain has handed down prison sentences ranging from three years to life imprisonment against 57 Shiites accused of plotting attacks against police and other targets.

The defendants were convicted on Thursday of forming an organisation in 2012 to 2013 that “used terrorism as a way to achieve its aims”, the prosecution said in a statement carried by the country’s official BNA news agency.

Bahrain’s high criminal court found that the group had smuggled weapons and explosives into the Gulf kingdom and plotted attacks against police and vital infrastructure, as well as a foreign embassy, the prosecution said.

English-language newspaper, the Gulf Daily News, said targets included the Saudi embassy and the causeway linking Bahrain with neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

The court handed down five life sentences, 22 15-year terms, 29 10-year terms and one three-year term. Four defendants were acquitted.

All those convicted except for one were also stripped of their citizenship, General prosecutor Ahmed Al Hammadi said.

Only 33 of the defendants are in custody. The rest were tried in absentia.

A judicial source said that most of the defendants are from the Shiite village of Bani Jamra, near the capital Manama.

Shiite-led protests rocked the Sunni-ruled monarchy in February 2011, as part of the wave of Arab Spring uprisings.

Although the protests were quelled in March 2011, Shiite demonstrators continue to clash frequently with security forces in villages outside Manama.

Hundreds of Shiites have been rounded up and put on trial, with top opposition figures convicted of attempting to topple the monarchy.

The International Federation for Human Rights says at least 89 people have been killed since the outbreak of the uprising in 2011.

* Agence France-Presse