Bahraini Crackdown: Jailing 7 Dissidents, Stripping Them of Citizenship

Local Editor

As part of the continuous Bahraini crackdown against civilians, Al-Khalifa judicial authorities sentenced seven political dissidents to jail and revoked their nationality.

The Arabic-language Lualua television network reported that the officials found the defendants guilty of “joining a terrorist group” and involvement in the explosion of a crude oil pipeline  in the northern village of Buri, located about 13 kilometers southwest of the capital Manama, last November.

The quintet was sentenced to life in prison over the blast, stripped of their citizenship, and ordered to pay 200,000 Bahraini dinars in fines.

Two other defendants were handed down ten-year and five-year jail terms respectively.

Lawyer Fatima al-Hawaj said the convicts have strongly dismissed the trumped-up charges leveled against them.

Of the seven defendants, three were tried in absentia. The other four were identified as 23-year-old Fadhel Ali, Anwar al-Mushaima, 24, Mohammed Mahrous, 27, and 23-year-old Adel Saleh.

Bahrain’s main opposition group, the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, announced earlier it will boycott parliamentary elections due to take place in late November.

Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the country in mid-February 2011.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team