(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Prominent Bahraini human rights activists Abdul Hadi al-Khawaja has been hospitalized after he was beaten by Saudi-backed security forces, reports say.
Al-Khawaja was severely beaten by regime forces on Wednesday after he protested against the harsh sentences handed down to opposition activists.
It is the second time that he is being admitted to hospital since his detention in April.
A military court in Bahrain sentenced eight opposition leaders, including al-Khawaja, to life imprisonment on the charge of "plotting to overthrow the ruling system."
Thirteen others also received jail terms of up to 15 years. Seven people were sentenced in absentia.
Bahraini authorities claim that those charged were trying to overthrow the Bahraini government "by force and intelligence with a terror group colluding with a foreign country."
"We will continue to fight for our rights and our people," al-Khawaja shouted after the judge read the sentences.
Maryam al-Khawaja, head of foreign relation office of Bahrain Center for Human Rights, said the court's guards beat the defendants and dragged them away from the courtroom after they spoke out against the unfair verdicts.
Meanwhile, a mass trial is under way in Bahrain for dozens of doctors and medical staff accused of supporting anti-government protesters. Opposition activists say the doctors and nurses were arrested and put on trial because they treated injured anti-regime protesters and other accusations are completely baseless.
Despite the lifting of an emergency law, the Manama regime continues to try civilians in its so-called special courts, as part of the government's crackdown on peaceful popular protests.
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Al-Khawaja was severely beaten by regime forces on Wednesday after he protested against the harsh sentences handed down to opposition activists.
It is the second time that he is being admitted to hospital since his detention in April.
A military court in Bahrain sentenced eight opposition leaders, including al-Khawaja, to life imprisonment on the charge of "plotting to overthrow the ruling system."
Thirteen others also received jail terms of up to 15 years. Seven people were sentenced in absentia.
Bahraini authorities claim that those charged were trying to overthrow the Bahraini government "by force and intelligence with a terror group colluding with a foreign country."
"We will continue to fight for our rights and our people," al-Khawaja shouted after the judge read the sentences.
Maryam al-Khawaja, head of foreign relation office of Bahrain Center for Human Rights, said the court's guards beat the defendants and dragged them away from the courtroom after they spoke out against the unfair verdicts.
Meanwhile, a mass trial is under way in Bahrain for dozens of doctors and medical staff accused of supporting anti-government protesters. Opposition activists say the doctors and nurses were arrested and put on trial because they treated injured anti-regime protesters and other accusations are completely baseless.
Despite the lifting of an emergency law, the Manama regime continues to try civilians in its so-called special courts, as part of the government's crackdown on peaceful popular protests.
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