A Bahraini court has sentenced 13 anti-regime protesters to long years in jail amid the ongoing harsh crackdown on political dissent in the country.
According to a Bahraini judicial official on Tuesday, the court handed down a jail term of 13 years to one of the protesters and sentenced the 12 others to 10 years in prison, AFP reported.
The official further said that the Bahraini defendants were found guilty of clashing with police during an anti-regime demonstration in the village of Sitra outside the capital, Manama, on August 6, 2012.
They were also convicted of ‘possessing Molotov cocktails, gathering on a public highway and attempting to murder police officers.’
Scores of Bahraini political activists have already been placed behind bars for organizing or taking part in anti-regime demonstrations across the oil-rich monarchy.
On May 28, Human Rights Watch (HRW) lashed out at the Manama regime’s justice system, describing it as “criminal” and censuring its “failure to deliver basic accountability and impartial justice.”
“Bahrain’s problem is not a dysfunctional justice system but rather a highly functional injustice system,” said HRW’s Deputy Middle East Director Joe Stork.
Bahrain has been witnessing a popular uprising since February 2011. Scores of people have been killed and many more arrested since then. On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to Bahrain to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on peaceful protesters.
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