A Bahrain court sentenced four men to death over the killing
of two policemen during the Gulf state’s recent political protests, state media
said Thursday.
A further three protesters were sentenced to life in prison
after being found guilty of the murder of Kashef Ahmed Mandhour and Mahmoud
Farooq Abdulsamad.
The verdict, handed down by Bahrain’s National Safety Court,
has been condemned by rights activists who said the ruling was in violation of
international laws.
“We demand the international community and organizations
[take] urgent action to stop the trials against demonstrators,” Bahrain Youth
Society for Human Rights said in a statement.
Bahrain banned protests when it imposed martial law in March
and invited troops from Sunni-led Gulf neighbours to help quash weeks of
protests by pro-reform demonstrators.
Hundreds of demonstrators have been arrested since then
while many more have been sacked from government jobs and state-linked companies, rights
groups say.
At least 13 protesters and four police were killed during
the clashes, at least three of whom were run over by cars around March 16.
Bahrain’s military prosecutor warned last week the state
would seek the death penalty for the seven men accused of killing the policemen.
State news agency BNA quoted the prosecutor as saying the men had
“committed their crime for terrorist reasons”.
Bahrain last issued a death sentence in 2007, and prior to
that had condemned only one person die over the preceding three decades. That
verdict came in the mid-1990s, during the greatest unrest Bahrain had seen
before this year’s protests.
*Additional reporting from Reuters
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