Bahrain executes 3 in bombing, spurs protests

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — Bahrain on Sunday carried out its fifirst executions since an Arab Spring uprising rocked the country in 2011, putting to death three men found guilty of a deadly bomb attack on police.

The executions of the Shiite men drew swift condemnation from human rights groups and sparked intense protests by opponents of the Sunni-ruled government, who see the charges as politically motivated. Activists allege that testimony used against the condemned men was obtained through torture.

Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in several predominantly Shiite communities to protest the executions.

The rallies at times turned violent as youth hurled projectiles and petrol bombs while police responded with birdshot and tear gas, witnesses said.

Bahrain’s public prosecution said the death sentences were carried out by fifiring squad.

The executions were the fifirst in the U.S.-allied nation since 2010 and followed a spike in protests in solidarity with the convicted men.

Abbas a l - S a mea, S a mi Mushaima and Ali al- Singace were found guilty in 2015 of killing two Bahraini policemen and an Emirati offifficer deployed to bolster the country’s security forces in a bomb attack the previous year. A court upheld their sentences last Monday.

B a h r a i n , a t i ny i s l a n d nation offff the coast of Saudi Arabia, hosts the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.