36 people given prison sentences for anti-government protests

Women taking to the streets in anti-government protests in Bahrain Al Jazeera reported from Bahrain that 36 people have been given prison sentences of between 15 and 25 years for taking part in anti-government protests earlier this year. The court also fined them a total of one million dollars. Last week, Doctors and nurses accused of aiding anti-government demonstrators were also given prison terms. A Bahraini special court sentenced Thursday a protester to death and another to life in jail after convicting them of killing a policeman, BNA state news agency said. The same court sentenced 20 Shiite medics to between five and 15 years in prison for their roles in a Shiite-led month-long protest which authorities quashed in mid March. Ali Yusof al-Taweel was sentenced to death and Ali Mahdi to life in prison for killing policeman Ahmed al-Mreyssi in the Shiite area of Sitra, south of Manama, during unrest that followed the quashing of a Shiite-led month-long protest, BNA said quoting miliary general prosecutor Yusof Flaifel. Thirteen medics were sentenced to 15 years in jail, two others to 10 years, and five to five years, including several women, he added. The medics all worked at the Salmaniya Medical Complex in Manama, which was stormed by security forces after they drove protesters on March 16 out of the nearby Pearl Square -- the focal point of protests inspired by uprisings that have swept the Arab world. BNA said the medics were tried for "forcefully occupying SMC... possessing unlicensed arms (AK-47s) and knives, incitement to overthrow the regime, seizing medical equipment, detaining policemen, and spreading false news." They were also accused of "inciting hatred to the regime and insulting it, instigating hatred against another sect and obstructing the implementation of law, destroying public property and taking part in gatherings aimed at jeopardising the general security and committing crimes," BNA said. "All these acts were done with a terrorist aim," it added.  They'll appeal their sentences later this month.