AhlulBayt News Agency

source : AP
Tuesday

7 January 2014

7:17:00 PM
494064

Bahrain sentences professional soccer player to 10 years prison for police station attack

The defense lawyer of a player for Bahrain's national soccer team says his client has been sentenced along with eight others to 10 years in prison on charges of burning a police station.

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The defense lawyer of a player for Bahrain's national soccer team says his client has been sentenced along with eight others to 10 years in prison on charges of burning a police station.

Lawyer Mohamed el-Motawa says the nine were also found guilty of participating in an illegal gathering and possessing firebombs.

El-Motawa says 20-year-old Hakeem el-Oraybi was playing in a televised match when the November 2012 incident took place in which dozens of Shiite protesters attacked a police station in the capital, Manama. El-Oraybi was detained for four months after the attack.

Bahraini Shiites are demanding greater rights from the Gulf Arab nation's Sunni rulers.

El-Oraybi is currently in neighboring Qatar with the Bahraini team for a match. His lawyer said Tuesday el-Oraybi will likely be arrested upon return.

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