Bahrainis Continue Rallies against Saudi Death Sentence for Two Young Nationals

By Staff, Agencies

For a third consecutive day, Bahrainis kept up their rallies in protest at a Saudi Arabian court's upholding of the death sentence against two Bahraini youths.

The demonstrations were held throughout several Bahraini villages on Thursday, with participants holding up pictures of the victims, who have been identified as Sadiq Thamer and Jaafar Sultan.

Saudi Arabia detained the two young men in 2015 and issued the sentence for allegedly trying to blow up a border crossing linking the island and the kingdom.

They appealed the sentence, but the Saudi Court of Appeals recently upheld the ruling. Both have pled not guilty, denouncing the verdict as politically-motivated.

Bahrain has been cracking down on all forms of dissent since 2011, when it started to face a popular backlash over its heavy-handed treatment of the country's Shia majority.

Saudi Arabia, seen by some observers as Bahrain's "big brother," has been supportive of Manama's suppression campaign, and at one point, even tried to boost the Bahraini crackdown by sending troops and military vehicles over to the island.

The Saudi kingdom itself is similarly notorious for its intolerance of dissent that has witnessed Riyadh changing its so-called anti-terrorism laws to include dissidence.

Riyadh has also attracted considerable international criticism for its rampant use of the death sentence against those of its citizens.