Bahrain Sentences 9 Protestors to Life in Prison

Local Editor

Nine Bahraini protestors have been jailed for life and stripped of their nationality for allegedly smuggling arms to be used in "terrorist acts," the prosecutor general of the country with the second highest prison population rate per 100,000 amongst Arab states in the West Asian and North African region announced on Monday.

A Manama court also found all nine guilty of having contacted an agent of an unnamed foreign country "to carry out acts hostile to Bahrain," he said in a statement.

The case dates back to February 2013 when authorities in the country announced they had allegedly dismantled a "terrorist cell" with links to Iran.

This is the latest in a series of convictions that the Bahraini regime has imposed against protesters, including prominent rights activists.

Today, the Saudi-backed Manama regime has the distinction of being the country with the second highest prison population rate per 100,000 amongst Arab states in the West Asian and North African region. Authorities continue to detain over 2,000 Bahrainis who dared to challenge al- Khalifa monarchy when the uprising erupted in February 2011.

Indeed, Bahraini authorities are rarely transparent about the actual number of prisoners, going as far as denying that any of the prisoners were arrested over their political stances, and claiming that they were apprehended for "conspiring to overthrow the ruling regime and communicating with foreign entities."
Due to the fact that the Bahraini regime does not publicly share the total number of prisoners it has nor does it provide an accurate breakdown of the detainees' crimes, most information regarding Bahrain's prisons usually come from non-governmental sources.

According to Bahraini activists, there are presently at least 2,000-3,000 "political prisoners" who were arrested when the recent Bahraini uprising erupted in 2011.
They are held among 20 prisons dispersed throughout the archipelago nation, all but two are administered by the Ministry of Interior. Out of the 20, there are four main prisons, one of which is solely for women. They are: al-Qurain Prison, Dry Dock Detention Center, Jaw Prison, and the Isa Town Detention Center for women.

While the number of prisoners may seem inconsequential compared to other countries, for Bahrain - with a small population of 1.2 million, 570,000 of which are Bahraini - it is quite significant.
A report in regards to prisons by the Bahrain Center for Human Rights and the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights released in July says there are over 200 minors held within these prisons, forced to stay side-by-side with adults, and a few have faced torture and sexual abuses.

Similarly, the July report stated, "Children as young as 13 have been sentenced to prison on charges of terrorism in trials that lacked any evidence and despite the fact that the Bahraini law does not define prison punishment for children below the age of 15 in the event of a criminal conviction."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team