Bahrainis hold anti-regime protests

Bahraini protesters have once again staged demonstrations against intensified regime crackdown on activists across the country.

On Wednesday, demonstrators took to the streets in the village of Nuwaidrat, south of the capital, Manama, and in the northern villages of Samaheej and Daih.

The protesters chanted slogans against the Al Khalifa regime, saying King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa must step down.

On the same day, a court in Bahrain sentenced 12 anti-regime protesters to 15 years in jail each, accusing them of setting a car warehouse ablaze near Manama in February 2012.

The court also accused the defendants of participating in “an unauthorized demonstration” and “possessing Molotov cocktails.”

According to Bahrain’s main opposition party, al-Wefaq, the harsh clampdown on activists has intensified over the past months.

In October, Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s director for the Middle East and North Africa, said, “The [Bahraini] authorities simply slap the label ‘terrorist’ on defendants and then subject them to all manner of violations to end up with a ‘confession’.”

Bahrainis have been staging demonstrations since mid-February 2011, calling for political reforms and a constitutional monarchy, a demand that later changed to an outright call for the ouster of the ruling Al Khalifa family following its brutal crackdown on popular protests.

Scores have been killed, many of them under torture while in custody, and thousands more detained since the popular uprising started in the kingdom.