AhlulBayt News Agency

source : PressTV
Sunday

22 May 2011

7:30:00 PM
242936

Bahrainis slam death sentences

Bahraini people have held a demonstration in Diraz, condemning the death sentences handed to two anti-regime protesters.

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Bahraini people have held a demonstration in Diraz, condemning the death sentences handed to two anti-regime protesters.

On Sunday, The demonstrators chanted, “No to the death penalty” and “Down with Hamad” in reference to Bahrain's King Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Pro-government thugs stormed Dumistan, another northwestern village, to prevent a march similarly planned to protest the verdicts.

The rallies came after a Bahraini military court upheld the death sentences issued against the two men found guilty of killing two police officers by allegedly running them over during anti-regime demonstrations.

Their case has drawn condemnation from human rights organizations. The Amnesty International has urged the ruling Al Khalifa family to halt the executions.

Anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across Bahrain since mid-February, calling for an end to the Al Khalifa dynasty's over 40 years of rule over the Persian Gulf Island.

On March 14, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates deployed police and military forces in the kingdom upon Manama's request to help quell the nationwide protests.

Bahraini regime forces backed by Saudi troops have abducted many people, including opposition activists, journalists, teachers, students, doctors, and nurses.

Currently, Bahrain is holding 1,000 political prisoners, who are expected to be tried in military courts, Nabeel Rajab, the head of Bahrain Center for Human Rights NGO, has said.

Bahrain's security court has been sentencing political activists to death and imprisonment as part of the kingdom's efforts to suppress the opposition.

Scores of people have been killed and many more arrested in the Saudi-backed crackdown on the peaceful protests.

Saudi-backed forces have, meanwhile, stormed the Bani Jamrah village, also in the northwest, detonating concussion bombs and tear-gas grenades near civilian residences, said one of our correspondents.

The troops were also reported to have beaten a mother and taken away her son. A female student was also sighted being abducted from her school near the capital.

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