DUBAI, LELEMUKU.COM - A Bahraini court has issued verdicts in a mass trial, sentencing 69 people to life in prison and revoking the citizenship of 138 defendants on terrorism-related charges.The public prosecutor's office said on Tuesday that 70 others were sentenced to between 3 years and 10 years imprisonment. Close to 100 suspects were fined roughly $265,000 each.
The defendants, of which 109 are in custody and 60 were tried in absentia, can appeal.
Charges against the group include forming a terrorist cell inside Bahrain with help from Iran and launching terrorist attacks. The group was labeled as "Hezbollah Bahrain."
The Europe-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy says this brings to total 990 people ordered stripped of their nationality since 2012, including political activists speaking out about human rights abuses. (VOANews)