Bahrain Jails Three for 15 Years over Car Bombing

A Bahraini court has sentenced three defendants to 15 years each in prison after it convicted them of blowing up a car in the capital last year, official media said.

Bahrain remains deeply divided following a Shiite-led uprising in 2011 that was crushed by the Sunni authorities.

The unnamed defendants were convicted Tuesday of "placing a gas cylinder" inside a car in Manama in February to blow it up "in a bid to terrorise" the community, the official BNA news agency reported.

They were also convicted of "deliberately starting a fire to endanger the lives of people" and "possessing petrol bombs," it said, quoting a prosecution statement.

It did not say if the attack had caused any casualties.

Hundreds of people, most of them Shiites, have been jailed on charges linked to anti-regime protests in the kingdom, which is home to the US Fifth Fleet.

At least 89 people have been killed in clashes with security forces since 2011. 

International rights groups have condemned the trials of opponents of the Sunni regime.

Bahrain on Tuesday sentenced prominent Shiite activist Nabeel Rajab to six months in prison for insulting public institutions in his tweets.

Prosecutors on Monday charged Bahrain's Shiite opposition chief Sheikh Ali Salman with attempting to overthrow the regime and set a January 28 trial date.