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| Bahraini court clears 2 policemen in protester death |
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.jpg) A defense lawyer in Bahrain says a court has acquitted two policemen charged in the shooting death of a protester at the beginning of the 2-year-old revolution in the Persian Gulf nation.
According to AP, Tuesday's decision could stir more clashes in the strategic kingdom, which is home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. It comes just two days after an appeals court confirmed the acquittal of two other policemen in the deaths of two protesters in February 2011.
Defense lawyer Mohammed al-Jishi said the two policeman fired shotgun blasts at the protester, but charges were dropped because the court decided there was no intention to use lethal force.
On January 8, the UN, the EU, Britain, France, and human rights groups criticized a Bahraini court decision upholding prison terms for 13 pro-democracy activists, including eight life sentences.
A day earlier, Bahrain’s highest court rejected the jailed activists' appeal and upheld their sentences for their roles in anti-regime protests in 2011.
The United Nations, the European Union, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Britain, and France censured the Bahraini court ruling.
Since mid-February 2011, thousands of pro-democracy protesters have staged numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa royal family to relinquish power.
On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on the peaceful protesters.
According to local sources, scores of people have been killed and hundreds arrested.
Physicians for Human Rights says doctors and nurses have been detained, tortured, or disappeared because they have "evidence of atrocities committed by the authorities, security forces, and riot police" in the crackdown on anti-government protesters.
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