Bahraini court sentences five to life in prison

The country’s high criminal court ruled Monday that the defendants had placed a home-made bomb on a highway and detonated it on June 4 last year targeting regime forces.
 
The blast caused damage to a number of houses in the area but left no casualties.
 
The Bahraini judiciary has come under fire by many human rights groups for handing down long-term sentences to anti-regime protesters and activists in the country.
 
Amnesty International and other rights groups have repeatedly censured the Bahraini regime over the “rampant” human rights abuses against opposition activists and anti-government protesters.
 
In a report titled “Behind the Rhetoric: Human rights abuses in Bahrain continue unabated” and released earlier this year, UK-based Amnesty criticized Manama for resorting to torture, arbitrary detentions, and the excessive use of force against peaceful government critics, including some as young as 17.
 
Since mid-February 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations on an almost daily basis in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa family to relinquish power.
 
Scores of people have been killed and hundreds of others injured or arrested in the ongoing heavy-handed crackdown on peaceful rallies.