Press TV - A court in Bahrain has handed down prison sentences to four anti-regime protesters as the ruling Al Khalifah regime presses ahead with its heavy clampdown on political dissidents and pro-democracy activists in the kingdom.

On Tuesday, Bahrain's Fourth�High�Criminal�Court�sentenced three of the defendants to five years in jail, while the fourth received three years in prison, Arabic-language�Bahrain Mirror�news website reported.

The court found the anti-regime activists guilty of �damaging public property, spreading terror in the hearts of citizens, creating chaos and deliberately setting fire to a number of containers� through a gas cylinder explosion in Sitra Island, located five�kilometers�south of the capital Manama.

On March 27, Bahrain's Supreme Criminal Court�sentenced eight defendants to seven years in prison after convicting them of attacking a police patrol with Molotov cocktails in the town of�A'ali, situated about three�kilometers southeast of the capital Manama.

A judicial source and activists said the ninth was a minor, who received a three-year jail term.

The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy later named the teenager as 19-year-old Sayed Nizar Alwadaei, adding that he is the brother-in-law of London-based Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, who is the head of the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD).

Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the country in mid-February 2011.



They are demanding that the Al Khalifah regime relinquish power and allow a just system representing all Bahrainis to be established.

Manama has gone to great lengths to clamp down on any sign of dissent.�On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to assist Bahrain�in its crackdown.

Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or got arrested as a result of the Al Khalifah regime�s crackdown.

On March 5, 2017, Bahrain�s�parliament�approved the trial of civilians at military tribunals in a measure blasted by human rights campaigners as being tantamount to imposition of an undeclared martial law countrywide.

Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah ratified the constitutional amendment on April 3 last year.