Bahrain jails 138 for Iran-linked ‘terror’ group

DUBAI: The Gulf state of Bahrain Tuesday jailed 138 people and revoked their citizenship for plotting to form a "terror" group with links to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the public prosecutor said.

The verdict was swiftly condemned by the Bahraini opposition, while human rights group Amnesty International decried the "mockery of justice" and "mass arbitrary denaturalisation". The court, whose rulings can be appealed, handed the men prison terms of three years to life for having tried to build a Bahrain Hezbollah, similar to the Shiite militia active in Lebanon, said prosecutor Ahmad al-Hammadi. Some members had received military training in Lebanon, Iran and Iraq, he said in a statement. Another man was also jailed but his citizenship was not revoked, while 30 others were acquitted, said the statement posted on the prosecution Instagram account. A judicial source said all the convicts are members of the Shiite community in the Sunni-ruled Gulf state. The source also said that 111 were already in custody while 58 were sentenced in absentia. Amnesty International described the sentences as "outrageous" and a sign of Bahrain’s authorities’ disregard for international judicial standards. The trial "demonstrates how Bahrain’s authorities are increasingly relying on revocation of nationality as a tool for repression," said Lynn Maalouf, Middle East research director at Amnesty.