Manama regime sentences 52 activists to over 313 years in jail

A Bahraini rights group says the Manama regime has sentenced 52 political prisoners to a total of more than 313 years in jail over the last week alone. 
 

The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) said the 52 detainees received the prison sentences between April 10 and 16, according to the Bahrain Mirror news website. 

The report further said three other detainees have also received life sentences over the last week. 

The rights group added that 10 people, including a child, were arbitrary arrested in the same period.

Meanwhile, the BCHR said Bahraini people have staged 40 anti-regime peaceful protests in the last week, some of which were violently repressed by the Al Khalifah regime forces.

The news comes days after another Bahraini rights group reported an unprecedented rise in human rights violations in Bahrain, saying the abuses are taking place in a more systematic manner. 

The Bahrain Forum for Human Rights (BFHR) said in its annual report released on April 16 that it had documented 2,389 rights violations in 2016, including 337 cases of violations of the right to freedom of religion.

The report added that the Manama regime illegally revoked the citizenship of 306 people last year while arbitrarily arresting some 1,246 others, including 185 children. 

Anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the country on February 14, 2011. People have been demanding that the Al Khalifah dynasty relinquish power and a just system representing all Bahrainis be established. 

The regime has been cracking down on all dissent since then. 

Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or been arrested as a result of Bahrain’s crackdown.