Bahrainis protest death sentences
\nirishtimes.com – Last Updated: Friday, April 29, 2011, 19:46<\/p>\n
Thousands of Bahraini Shi’ites gathered before a revered cleric today denounced death sentences given to protesters over anti-government rallies crushed last month in the US-allied Gulf kingdom.<\/p>\n
The verdict, handed down by a military court yesterday to four men accused of killing two policemen in violent protests last month, could intensify sectarian tension in the Sunni Muslim-led state that hosts the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.<\/p>\n
“It’s not true that they killed them,” said a man who identified himself only as Moussa, after praying at the mosque of Sheikh Issa Qassim, as a police helicopter circled overhead. “The government made it up just like a movie.”<\/p>\n
He was referring to video footage that Bahraini authorities have circulated showing the two policemen smashed by a vehicle that sped through a crowd of protesters, some of whom appeared to then trample and kick the fallen men.<\/p>\n
Police kept a tight grip on roads leading to the village where the mosque is located, turning back many vehicles.<\/p>\n
The rulings were only the third time in over 30 years that a death sentence had been given to a Bahraini citizen. …more<\/a><\/p>\n