Bahrain Crackdown: Rights Groups Blast Sentence against Sheikh Salman
Local Editor
Human rights groups are sharply criticizing a Bahraini appeal court's ruling upholding a nine-year prison sentence against the country's leading Shiite opposition figure, Sheikh Ali Salman.
Amnesty International and the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy were among the groups condemning Monday's verdict against Sheikh Ali Salman. He is the Secretary-General of Al-Wefaq, Bahrain's largest Shiite political group.
Relatively, Amnesty's Mideast Deputy Director of Campaigns Samah Hadid said the ruling shows "Bahrain's flagrant disregard for the right to freedom of expression."
Sheikh Salman was initially sentenced to four years in prison. Bahrain's Supreme Court of Appeal increased his jail term to nine years on May 30.
The cleric was arrested in December 2014 on alleged charges of attempting to overthrow the Manama regime and collaborating with foreign powers.
He denied the charges, saying he has been seeking reforms in the country through peaceful means.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights [OHCHR] has repeatedly called on the Manama regime to release the 51-year-old cleric.
Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the kingdom on February 14, 2011.
They are demanding that the Al Khalifah dynasty relinquish power and a just system representing all Bahrainis be established.
On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to Bahrain to assist the Manama government in its crackdown.
Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or got arrested as a result of Al Khalifah regime's crackdown on anti-regime activists.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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