Bahrain Activist's Family Lose Appeal against Jail Terms

Bahrain upheld Monday prison sentences against a prominent activist's relatives convicted of planting a fake bomb, a rights group said, in a case slammed as political reprisal by the UN. 

The mother-in-law, brother-in-law and cousin of activist Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, head of advocacy for the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, were arrested and sentenced in 2017 for planting a fake device. Rights groups and the UN have said the case was based on trumped-up charges. 

On Monday the supreme court upheld three-year sentences against the three, the London-based rights group said, in what is a final verdict that cannot be appealed.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention last month said the defendants were "deprived of their liberty... and prosecuted for their family ties with Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei" in "acts of reprisals".

It also called for the immediate release of Alwadaei's mother-in-law Hajer Mansoor Hassan, his brother-in-law Sayed Nizar Alwadaei and cousin Mahmood Marzooq Mansoor.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) have also denounced the case and said the three were tortured and forced to make confessions.

Amnesty said it had evidence Mansoor, who has gone on multiple rounds of hunger strike, was a "prisoner of conscience" who was denied medical access. 

A joint statement signed by Amnesty, HRW and nine other rights groups Sunday urged the Bahraini government to release Alwadaei's relatives and "ensure their convictions and sentences are quashed".

"The prosecution of his relatives is the latest attempt to intimidate (Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei) and silence his advocacy efforts," the statement said.

Bahrain, a key US ally located between rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran, has been gripped by bouts of unrest since 2011, when authorities cracked down on Shiite-led protests demanding political reform.

Since then, hundreds of protesters have been jailed or stripped of their nationality, with Bahrain claiming Iran trained and backed demonstrators in order to topple the Manama government. Iran denies the accusation. 

The high court on Monday also upheld the death penalty for two Shiites convicted of a 2015 roadside bombing that killed two policemen in the eastern village of Sitra, a judicial source said. 

The two were sentenced for the "terrorist act" under the "instruction of Iran", the source said, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to brief the press. 

Ruled for more than two centuries by the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty, Bahrain has a majority Shiite Muslim population, according to unofficial estimates contested by the government.

All opposition groups have been banned and disbanded.