Life sentence for Bahrain opposition leader
DUBAI AFP Nov4,2018-bahrain sentenced the head of the country’s Shiite opposition movement to life in prison Sunday for spying for rival Gulf state Qatar in a ruling rights groups have called a travesty.
Sheikh Ali Salman, who headed the now-banned Al-wefaq movement, and two of his aides had been acquitted by the high criminal court in June, a verdict the public prosecution appealed.
Sheikh Ali Salman, who headed the now-banned Al-wefaq movement, and two of his aides had been acquitted by the high criminal court in June, a verdict the public prosecution appealed
The public prosecutor said in a statement that the three had been unanimously sentenced by the appeals court for
“acts of hostility” against Bahrain and “communicating with Qatari officials... to overthrow constitutional order”.
Bahrain, along with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, severed all ties with Qatar in 2017, banning their citizens from travel to or communication with the emirate over its alleged ties to both Iran and radical Islamist groups. Sunday’s verdict against the charismatic Shiite cleric can still be appealed.
Ruled for more than two centuries by the Sunni Al-khalifa dynasty, Bahrain has been hit by waves of unrest since 2011, when security forces crushed Shiite-led protests demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister.