A Bahraini court has sentenced six anti-regime protesters to 10 years in prison on charges of attempted murders of police officers in the wake of pro-democracy rallies in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom.
A judicial source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Tuesday that the six defendants were convicted of throwing Molotov cocktails at a line of police officers in an attempt to kill them, setting fire to a police vehicle and participating in an unauthorized demonstration.
The source added that two policemen were injured in clashes that broke out between anti-regime demonstrators and security forces in the western Manama suburb of Jidd Hafs in March 2012. Bahraini regime forces used tear gas and fired shots to disperse the crowd.
Four of the defendants were minors at the time.
The Bahraini uprising began in mid-February 2011. Protesters initially called for political reforms and a constitutional monarchy, a demand that later changed to an outright call for the ouster of the ruling Al Khalifa family following its brutal crackdown on popular protests.
Scores have been killed, many of them under torture while in custody, and thousands more detained since the popular uprising began in the Persian Gulf kingdom.
Physicians for Human Rights says doctors and nurses have been detained, tortured, or disappeared because they have "evidence of atrocities committed by the authorities, security forces, and riot police" in the crackdown on anti-regime protesters.