by NIALL GREEN
A military court in the US-allied monarchy of Bahrain has handed down lengthy prison sentences to 21 people involved in anti-government protests earlier this year.
Eight people were given life sentences and others sentenced to prison terms of up to 15 years. All those convicted by the specially convened military tribunal are from the Shiite Muslim faith, the religious majority in the small Persian Gulf nation. The Sunni Muslim al-Khalifa royal family rules Bahrain, while Shiites face discrimination in employment, the provision of housing and other services.
The regime in Bahrain faced weeks of mass anti-government protests in February and March. Following a military intervention by troops from the neighboring monarchies of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the Bahraini government declared martial law on March 15 and launched a vicious crackdown on all signs of dissent.
Security forces killed at least 30 demonstrators, and hundreds have been arrested. Many of those detained by the authorities have been held incommunicado and suffered torture. The state has taken further punitive action against its critics, firing thousands of public sector workers accused of participating in protest marches.
Those sentenced on Wednesday include human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, and two opposition politicians, Abd al-Jalil Singace and Hassan Mushaima. Seven of those convicted were tried in absentia, including one Internet blogger who received a 15-year sentence.
Faraz Sanei of Human Rights Watch described the manner in which one of those convicted, Jaafer al-Hasabi, was brought into custody: “Like others, he was picked up by masked gunmen, in the middle of the night, held incommunicado … He was part of an organization [the Bahrain Freedom Movement] which wasn’t even outlawed.”
One of those tried in absentia, Ali Mushaima, escaped to Britain in March. In an interview with the New York Times on Wednesday, Mushaima, a 28-year old pro-democracy activist, said he was not surprised at the outcome of the trial. “We know this court very well, and we know that the regime is targeting leaders of this movement,” he claimed.
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