[JURIST] A Bahraini court found 11 Shiities guilty on Thursday of an attack carried out against police last year and sentenced three to death. The other eight defendants were sentenced [WSJ report] to life in prison and will be stripped of their citizenship. The case centered on the country’s deadliest attack [AFP report] since Bahraini security forces attacked Shiite protests in 2011. In March three police officers were killed by bombings in a Shiite village while breaking up groups of “rioters and vandals” from outside Manama’s outskirts. One of the fallen officers had been a policeman from the United Arab Emirates deployed to Bahrain to assist in security measures. The defendants plan to appeal the decision.

Political tensions remain high in Bahrain [JURIST news archive] following protests that began in 2011. Earlier this month, Bahrain commenced [JURIST report] a criminal investigation into criminal content posted online by the main opposition party Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society [official website]. Also this month a group of UN human rights experts urged [JURIST report] the Bahrain government to release peaceful politician Sheikh Ali Salman. The human rights experts criticized the arrest and prosecution as a violation of Salman’s right to freedom of expression, freedom of association and freedom of religion. In January the Bahrain Ministry of Justice commenced [JURIST report] the trial of Salman for his role in promoting an overthrow of the current Bahrain political system. Salman was charged [JURIST report] in January for inciting a change of regime by non-peaceful means.