Bahrain court sentences five to jail over anti-regime protests

A Bahrain court has sentenced five people to prison with terms ranging from one to five years, for taking part in anti-regime demonstrations, local media reported.

Three of the defendants were sentenced to five years in jail, while the other two received a one-year sentence, all charged with involvement in the eastern town of Tubli, according to Arabic-language Bahrain Mirror news website.

The court found the defendants guilty of blocking a street into a village by using two bins, dousing scrap tires with petrol and setting them alight in November last year, the charge sheet read.

Saturday's ruling comes two days after Bahraini police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters who were trying to march on the capital from the village of Diya.

Witnesses said the demonstrators wanted to head to Manama's Pearl Square, where more than five years ago authorities crushed anti-government protests and a pearl statue associated with demonstrations was demolished.

Bahrain's repressive measures prohibit gatherings of more than five people, and considers such congregations as threats to civilian lives and public properties.

Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the kingdom on 14 February 2011.

The protesters demanded that the al-Khalifah royal family relinquish power and a just system representing all Bahrainis be established.

In March 2011, security forces backed by Saudi-led troops crushed the month-long protests that demanded democratic reforms, leaving scores dead and hundreds injured or arrested.

Authorities have also stripped at least 261 people of their citizenship since 2012, according to the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights.

We have concerns about the state of human rights in general in Bahrain and we're engaging with the government ... on all these issues. - Mark Toner

Last month, the US urged Bahrain to immediately release prominent human rights activist Nabeel Rajab, who is in prison over a tweet criticising Manama's participation in the Saudi-led military operations in Yemen.

"We call on the government of Bahrain to release him [Rajab] immediately," State Department Spokesperson Mark Toner said.

"We have concerns about the state of human rights in general in Bahrain and we're engaging with the government ... on all these issues."

Human Rights Watch also joined a growing chorus of international rights groups calling on Bahrain to release Rajab and other detained activists.

"Bahrain keeping Nabeel Rajab in a prison cell for criticising abuses shows the ruling al-Khalifa family's deep contempt for basic human rights," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

"States that claim to support peaceful activism should use the Human Rights Council session to demand Rajab's immediate release. And they should push Bahrain to lift the restrictions placed on Nabeel's colleagues."