Bahrain’s High Court Jails 13 Activists

Local Editor

Bahrain's high court has handed long jail terms of up to 15 years to 13 activists, as the al-Khalifa regime steps up its crackdown on demonstrators.
The court issued the verdicts on Monday after convicting the defendants of allegedly possessing Molotov Cocktails, burning tires and attending illegal gatherings in the Salihiya district of the capital, Manama.

The development comes less than a week after Bahrain's Justice and Islamic Affairs Ministry filed a lawsuit against the Islamic Scholars Council, which is a Shia body, calling for the dissolution of the group and the confiscation of its assets.
The ministry claimed in the lawsuit that the Islamic Scholars Council has been engaged in political activities that "threatened the security of the Arab kingdom."
Bahrain's main opposition bloc, the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, has censured the move, saying "the regime has declared war on Shias."

A number of Bahraini scholars and clerics have also signed a petition to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in protest at the decision.

Source: Agencies