Bahrain sentences 24 to jail, revokes their nationality

A Bahrain court sentenced 24 Shiite citizens to prison and stripped them of their nationality AFTER inding them Guilty of forming a “terrorist group,” a Bahraini judicial source said on Thursday.

Other charges included travelling to Iraq and Iran for “weapons and explosives training” and attempted murder of police oficers.

The High Criminal Court on Wednesday sentenced 10 of the defendants to life in prison, 10 to a decade behind bars and the other four to jail terms ranging from three to ive years.

The Bahraini government has accused Iran of backing the protests and attempting to overthrow the government.

Authorities on Wednesday also referred to trial seven Bahrainis accused of attacking an oil pipeline to Saudi Arabia in November. That trial is set for May 10. The blast cut off the pipeline Linking BAHRAIN’S BAPCO refinery with oil giant Aramco’s main pumping station in neighbouring Saudi Arabia’s Dhahran province.

Manama in February said it had arrested four men suspected of attacking the pipeline, accusing Iran of training and arming two of them, which Tehran denied.

Under Bahrain’s citizenship law, amended after political protests broke out in 2011, the authorities can revoke the nationality of individuals who engage in acts deemed “disloyal” to the state.