Bahrain policemen jailed over detainee's torture, death

Court jails two policemen for seven years each after convicting them of torturing to death a Shiite detainee in the wake of last year's crackdown on protests.

DUBAI // A Bahrain court on Sunday jailed two policemen for seven years each after convicting them of torturing to death a Shiite detainee in the wake of last year's crackdown on protests, a local daily said.

The Gulf kingdom's high criminal court found the two national security members guilty of torturing Abdul Karim Fakhrawi to death while in detention, Al-Wasat's online edition reported.

The court had in May thrown out the case against the two defendants for lack of proof and sent it back to the prosecution for further investigation.

A number of policemen are being investigated or are on trial for allegedly torturing detainees after hundreds of Shiites were rounded up when security forces in the Sunni-ruled state quelled a month-long protest in mid-March 2011.

Authorities say they are implementing the recommendations of an independent commission of inquiry called for by the king that confirmed allegations of excessive use of force by security forces during the uprising.

Home to the US Fifth Fleet and strategically situated across the Gulf from Iran, Bahrain still sees sporadic Shiite-led demonstrations, mostly outside the capital Manama.

According to the International Federation for Human Rights, around 80 people have been killed in Bahrain since the violence first broke out on February 14, 2011.

ak/srm