Protests as Bahrain hands opposition figures life sentences

BAHRAIN sentenced 10 prominent Shi’ite Muslim activists and opposition leaders to life in prison on charges of plotting a coup during protests in the Gulf island kingdom earlier this year.

The sentencing could inflame tension in the Gulf Arab state where demonstrators have mounted daily protests since emergency law was lifted on June 1. It may also undermine the basis for a national dialogue planned to start next month.

Seconds after the verdict was issued, one of 21 defendants lined up in grey prison suits shouted: “We will continue our peaceful struggle.” Other defendants responded by shaking their fists and shouting “peaceful, peaceful.”

Police officers hustled them out of the courtroom. Relatives of the defendants shouted “God is great,” and one woman was dragged from the chamber.

Among those who received life sentences was Shi’ite dissident Hassan Mushaimaa, leader of the hardline opposition group Haq, and Abduljalil al-Singace, from the same party. Haq joined two other groups in calling for the overthrow of the monarchy during mass protests in February and March.

Abdel Wahab Hussain, head of Wafa, another group that called for a republic, was also given a life sentence. Ibrahim Sharif, Sunni Muslim leader of the secular leftist Waad party, received five years in prison. Waad and Bahrain’s largest Shi’ite opposition group Wefaq had called for reform of the monarchy.

Small protests broke out in some Shi’ite villages after the verdicts, residents said, but were quashed by police using tear gas and sound grenades.

Representatives from several European embassies as well as the United States were in the courtroom, where other defendants received prison terms ranging from two to 15 years.

The charges ranged from incitement to attempting to overthrow the government by force in collusion with “a terrorist organisation” working for a foreign country.

Bahrain’s Sunni rulers, backed by forces from neighbouring Sunni Gulf Arab states, crushed weeks of protests in March mostly by members of the Shi’ite majority. Manama says the protests had a sectarian agenda backed by Shi’ite power Iran, which the opposition denies.