Manama (Bahrain): A lawyer in Bahrain says 17 suspected anti-government protesters have been sentenced to 15-year prison sentences for links to a bombing last year that injured four policemen.
At the time, the April 2012 blast was a stunning escalation in more than two years of unrest between Bahrain`s Sunni monarchy and the kingdom`s majority Shi`ites seeking a greater political voice.
Defence lawyer Jassim Sarhan said eight of the defendants are in custody, and the others were tried in absentia. The judgements today are among the harshest sentences imposed for alleged protest-related violence, although some Shi`ite political leaders have received life sentences.
Sarhan said an appeal is planned.
Also today, the official Bahrain News Agency said a blast from an explosive device in a mainly Shi`ite area injured an Asian worker.
PTI
