Bahrain jails 16 Shiites to 112 years over alleged attack on police

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - A Bahraini court has sentenced 16 activists to seven years in prison each for allegedly attacking a police vehicle during an anti-government demonstration. They were also found guilty of blocking roads by setting tyres on fire in May last year and for taking part in an anti-regime protest during which a police vehicle was attacked, although no one was hurt.The jail terms are the latest against Bahraini Shiites accused of violence, where a Shiite-led uprising to demand democratic reform was crushed in March 2011.Since mid-February 2011, thousands of pro-democracy protesters have staged numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa royal family to relinquish power.On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on the peaceful protesters.According to local sources, scores of people have been killed and hundreds arrested.Physicians for Human Rights says doctors and nurses have been detained, tortured, or disappeared because they have "evidence of atrocities committed by the authorities, security forces, and riot police" in the crackdown on anti-government protesters. At least 116 people have been killed since the protests began, according to the Ahlul Bayt News Agency./129